I found this vintage metal pie safe at a garage sale earlier this summer.
I liked the chippy original paint job, but it needed to be cleaned up, and the inside was in pretty rough shape. It was also missing the shelves.
I wanted this piece to be functional for storage, so I asked Ken to cut a piece of wood to use as a shelf. Then I cleaned the interior and followed that up with a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Kudzu.
I love that pop of vibrant green, don’t you?
As for the outside, I decided to retain that original chippy finish. I gave it a good clean, then I sanded it lightly to remove any flaking paint and then I sprayed it with some Rustoleum matte clear spray sealer to reduce further chipping.
Finally, I added some bits from I.O.D.’s Label Ephemera transfer to the door, and then gave that another coat of the spray sealer.
I’m happy that I was able to keep the authentic look of this piece, while also giving it a little more pizzazz (and functionality) with some paint and transfers.
I suppose if you bake a lot of pies, you could actually use this as a pie safe, but I think it would be perfect in a potting shed.
It would also be awesome hung on the wall in a bathroom and used to store toiletries and such. If only we didn’t have the world’s smallest bathroom at our house!
It has some holes at the back of the top that would make it easy to hang.
No matter where you use it, I think it would make a fabulously unique storage solution.
This piece is for sale, so if you’re local be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.
q is for quandie 
I love this piece…especially the pop of green on the inside! The only thing I’m questioning is how “perfect” the lettering of the transfer is compared to how “chippy” the exterior of the cabinet is. I’m not sure if it’s even possible to distress the lettering! This will be a quick seller!!
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It is possible to distress the lettering by sanding it lightly. It always makes me a little nervous doing that with this small lettering though because an entire letter can go missing in the blink of an eye 😉
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Wow, what a unique piece. Love the little updates you have made.
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Thanks Laura!
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Oh this is just genius with the transfers and the chippy paint! And the inside green is awesome too. I’ve often wondered why they called them pie safes. Were there lots of pie thieves back then? 🤣 Doesn’t matter. Just a darling piece for so many places.
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Yep … lots of pie thieves were around in the form of insects and vermin (according to Wikipedia) 🙂
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I love that you saved the original paint on this piece and of course, I’m always happy when you break out the 🐸🐸 for your staging. 🤣 I have a question if you don’t mind. When you are chalk painting something metal like this cabinet, do you need to pre coat with anything for adherence? I know with your toolboxes, you often use DB Boss but I think you use that to control bleed through or is that also for adherence? Thanks and good luck selling this little cutie!
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Chalk paint was originally created for its ability to adhere well to any surface. I find that it adheres quite nicely to a clean, scuff sanded surface. So my prep on a piece like this is to clean it and scuff sand it, that’s it. The BOSS is not designed to improve adherence, but is meant for blocking stains and/or odors. I mainly use it on the toolboxes to prevent existing rust or oil stains from bleeding through my new paint. Dixie Belle’s Slick Stick is for use on super slick, shiny surfaces like glass, Formica or laminate (or metal that is coated with a slick finish of some kind). I also like to use it on pieces that have that super slick factory finish on them (like this one).
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Yet another great piece! I love seeing what you do to make each piece SO much better! Do you ever get pictures from your buyers of how they use the item they have purchased? Would love to see how your pieces are used in the buyer’s homes.
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I do sometimes get photos back from buyers, which is always fun. I also have a customer who has purchased numerous pieces from me and one of these days I want to make it out to her house to see them all again!
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Love everything about it! Chippiness, green inside, great storage, vintage, etc. What more could you ask for?
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Right?!
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So cute Miss Quandie!
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Thanks Connie!
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Beautiful piece! I would love to know how you secured the shelf inside, or were there brackets for it already there?
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It already had brackets for the shelf, so that made it pretty simple 🙂
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I purchased one of these pie safes several months ago. The entire piece was the same green as the inside of your piece. They are such great display pieces, but I have wondered how they would have looked in the kitchen long ago. We’re they hidden in the pantry? Maybe on the summer porch? Or just sitting on whatever piece they had in the kitchen? I have mine in the hallway atop a chippy table, every time I pass it that shade of green makes my heart happy.
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