Barrister's Bonanza!

In my quest to find a great storage piece, I headed off early this morning (but not as early as last week!) to a neighbourhood on the north side of the city for their annual yard sales. I have gotten some awesome deals there in the past (victorian brass bed, weighed a ton for $25) and so thought that this might yield some treasures.

I hit the jackpot on the second block when I found a metal barrister's bookcase for $25! It's a three level one, and stands about five feet high. It's painted black now and has glass shelf fronts. I might take it to be stripped and then painted at the autobody shop. I am thinking a nice high-gloss white... what do you think? I would probably line the insides with another colour.

I stopped to talk to my friends at Housewerks Salvage and one suggestion was to sand it down to the original steel. I had tried that on a tiny bit, but needed a rougher grade of sandpaper, which I now have. I have a palm sander, and can work for about 10 minutes before my hands go numb. Luckily, it's only got two coats of paint on top of the original grey.

There aren't too many images on Google, so I've provided a link to show you one that was used as a bar. The one in the image above is one shelf larger than mine, but otherwise the same. It sold on eBay for $399, plus $200 shipping. So, I am thinking I got a good deal. I also got a couple of iron plant stands for $.25 each, so all told, a very good hunting day.