How to Repurpose and Retrofit Old Lockers
I love a good deal! And I recently found one at a yard sale! My husband and I ran across some old lockers for $10…and I had to have them! I wasn’t sure at the time how I would use them…but I had no doubt that I would figure it out! …and I did.
A New Use for Old Lockers
Our most recent difficulty, since building our natural pool, has been rounding up and housing all of the various pool paraphernalia in the yard. So, that was my choice. What a cool way to house and hide all of the masks and snorkels, etc.
The lockers, when we got them, were an ugly green and very dirty and incomplete, missing an end cap. I had the perfect spot for them on the front side of one of my clothesline posts, which I’ve blogged about before. It was a perfect fit, so I went to work making it happen.
Step 1 – Getting them in place
The first thing that I did was to set the lockers up on a cut down pallet so that they were above ground level. I then shimmed, leveled and attached the lockers in place so that they were secure.
Step 2 – Preparing the lockers
The next step was to remove an old clothes rod that ran through the center of them by drilling out the rivets. Not a problem, super quick and easy! I taped off the handles and numbers and just used spray cans to recoat the lockers in my favorite color-RED!
Step 3 – Creating the ‘built-in’ look
I trimmed out the pallet with 2×4 cutoffs to give it more of a bookcase feel and cover the ugly pallet. Since one end of the lockers were open-no side panel, I decided to use 3/4″ plywood to make my own end and then likewise a matching one on the other end, connected and finished out by another piece on top to give the look of a locker set being ‘built-in’ to a wooden case.
The plywood comes in 4’x8′ sheets and is heavy and cumbersome. My husband helped me run it through our table saw to strip it down to the 15″ widths that I needed, before he headed off to work. I cut them down to the proper lengths and attached them with self-tapping screws. (I will say that this was the hardest part. The screws just did not want to go through that metal!)
Step 4 – Finishing
The final step was to seal the wood with a stain and seal product that we used on our pool deck and other outdoor projects. It turned out great and I absolutely love the finished project. (I also love that the kids and grandkids now have a cool place to stow their pool stuff!)
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