What to do with an Antique Typeset Drawer?

My friend Julie, her mother and I went to a place called Loafer's Glory in Blanchard, MI yesterday.  It is an antique shop, a restaurant, an old-fashioned soda fountain, candle shop, and more all in one.  There are also a few other antique shops within about fifty feet of Loafer's Glory.  It was heaven, and we were there for several hours looking at all the neat things.  Among them, I found this:

I had initially planned to hang it on the wall and put some knick knacks in it, but then it hit me:  coffee table!

So here is how I did it:

First, I removed the main drawer part.  I bought a piece of 1/4" plywood to replace the particle board at the bottom of the drawer, since I planned to stain it and I'm pretty sure particle board would not look good with stain.

The particle board wouldn't come off the drawer sections!  There were brads in different areas that had hooks at the bottom, so I had to break off the particle board in chunks to maintain the drawer sections.  Then I glued the wooden slats back together and put them in the frame and nailed the plywood to the bottom.

After nailing the bottom back on, it was time to put the hardware on the bottom for the legs.

Home Depot sells table legs that come ready to screw into this type of hardware, it was very easy to mount.

Now all that is left is a coat of stain!

I plan to add one or two more coats of stain, then I am going to get some glass cut for the top after I find some fun things to put in it!  I'll update with the finished product in a few days!


Also, Julie painted her antique table, her first refinishing project.  Here's the before:

And here's the after (still wet paint):

******UPDATE******

I added a second coat of stain to the table, and I have the glass ordered for the tabletop.  I plan to add a third coat of stain (I think I can be patient enough!), but here's what it looks like after the second coat:

Some of the stain is still damp.