{upcycled} first aid box

Easy and quick access to first aid supplies is important. I know this from experience.  They are never good experiences.

My husband seems to think I am some kind of nurse (I'm NOT), so comes to me when he or anyone else has had an unfortunate run in with a sharp object on the farm.  Said objects are usually dirty, being from a farm and all. 

I used to keep my first aid supplies in a plastic box in the downstairs bathroom, fairly close to the front door of the house (aka the emergency triage area). Unfortunately there was no sink by the door for washing wounds, so if there were any bloody injuries there was usually some kind of trail left from the door to the bathroom that any CSI would love! {I know- ewww - sorry about that.}

Which brings me to this beauty:

Well not in this picture.  This is how I found it, at auction, for $2.  It was also FULL of an assortment of vintage coat hooks and cabinet hardware - which is what I really wanted ;)

It looks like it contained "electric" at one time.  This is one heavy box - made of steel in some kind of army color, and it was dirty!

After much cleaning, some sanding, and a couple of coats of this paint (from the surplus store, $3.50)...

...it was looking much better!  To clearly mark what was in the box, I glued on the international symbol for "Help me I'm bleeding to death!", the red cross.  It was not red to begin with, just a wooden cross I picked up at a thrift store for 50 cents, then painted red.

That little black box on top contains a working vintage otoscope, also bought at an auction. {shocker!} 

Here it is with all the supplies inside, they fit nicely in these (washable) boxes from the dollar store.  As you can see there was a divider in the box that made a handy shelf too!  Now that I see this, maybe I should have painted the inside too - I'm optimistic I won't be looking at that a whole lot!

I hung this beauty right by the sink in the mudroom/laundry room, which we renovated last year.  (You can see pictures of the reno at Hometalk for now - I plan on posting them here sometime) 

So there it is, now hopefully I won't need it :0

Have an abundant day,

Diana

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