Possum Belly Bakers Cabinet

If were at a garage sale and you saw a "work bench" that looked like this...

Would you buy it for $1?

My mom did, but she also realized that it wasn't really meant to be a work bench; in fact, it is a possum belly bakers cabinet. The drawers are out of it here so it is difficult to see that the two bottom drawers (on top of the top drawers in the picture) are deep rounded tin (on the inside, to keep rodents out) drawers that they used to store flour.

Since I don't know anything about these cabinets and my mom is the one that performed this marvelous transformation, I asked her to write about the process that she went through:

"The time on my table I don't know about. I just worked on it when I had a few hours to spare before I got too hot outside. The paint was that old lead paint so I had to drag all the pieces outside to work on it. I finished it within 2 weeks. Mostly working 2 or 3 hours a night. The paint stripper I started with I didn't have very good results with and went thru a whole can of it. I got a paint and epoxy stripper and that seem to go a little faster. I think someone had applied some kind of antiquing varnish over the top of the old green paint which made it really hard to get off. I did some sanding with a palm sander plus sanding some by hand also. The grooves on the legs were the hardest to get the paint out of. The boards on the top we had to remove because it was being used as a work bench and had oil and grease on it. I found the enamel top at a flea market for $25.00. Which was really lucky because it is bigger than the usual size. It was 48 inches long. The top is a little worn but just adds to the charm of it. What I think is really neat about the cabinet was apparently the person that used it (most likely the housewife) was definitely right handed because the top of the right top drawer where she opened it without using the handle was worn down considerably! I wish I could know who owned the table, if she was like my Grandma and made biscuits everyday on the breadboard and covered them after the meal with a tablecloth and Grandpa would grab one or two out  with a piece of sausage when he came in for a break from the fields. A funny story : When my Grandma sent 2 of my aunts to the house to make biscuits for supper and they messed up the ingredients and was scared to tell Grandma what they did because they had wasted the lard and flour which was hard to come by in those days. They were afraid they was gonna get a whipping so they went out and dug a hole under a bush and buried it! They made a new batch and never did tell anyone even as adults till after Grandma died!!! How things have changed over the years! Anyway, that's my deal about the possum belly cabinet".

Notice the rounded "possum belly" drawers.  This looks amazing!  Mom was amused by my mentioning her table-thing and said, "Yes I guess I do have a table-thing. I consider it my rescue effort for them instead of them going to the trash or wherever. How's that for an excuse!??"  I love it! Save the Plant, Save the Whales, and Save the Tables :)  

These cabinets (on ebay) are listed  in the amounts of $300 to $1500!