Repurpose a Thrifted Clock!

Do you ever find things at the thrift store and think to yourself “that has potential”?  I do all the time, there’s so much out there!  Take this mantel clock.

The glass piece in the door was missing and the clock mechanism didn’t work.  But the wood casing and the brass details made it really beautiful.

I immediately thought how cool it would be to turn it into an aquarium of sorts!  So I picked up a glass bowl from the thrift store along with 2 aquarium plants.

I popped in 2 glass candies for color and a baby spider plant I was propagating.

Next I removed the clock mechanism which was just held in place with a few flat head screws.

I saved this thinking maybe I could do something cool with it.  You never know when inspiration will strike!

The clock face was paper and attached to the solid wood case of the clock.  Which meant I needed to cut a hole for the bowl to fit in.  Measuring the the clock face for the opening, I just so happened to have a hole saw the exact same size.

I popped the hole saw on the drill and cut the face out.

This was super easy and only took me a couple of minutes.

Lightly routering the edges and a quick hand sand I was left with this.

I accidentally bent the door a bit when I cut the hole, ah well it gives it character.

Last step was to set the bowl in the opening.  I popped a piece of wood for the bowl to sit on inside the clock and set the bowl on it.

It fit right in the opening!

I considered painting the clock frame but decided the warm wood was too pretty to cover and I like the contrast between the dark and the light shining through the bowl.

The bowl fits through the opening, simulating the original glass door.

I was too excited to dust it after cutting the hole.

And here’s what it looks like with a window behind it.  I love the light coming through the bowl.

Repurposing old finds is so much fun!

Have you repurposed a thrift find?  I would love to hear about it so hit me up in the comments with your projects.

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