Battered and Bedraggled Trunk Coffee Table
Have you ever passed up a piece of furniture that you thought was beyond help? You might change your mind after seeing this poor sad little trunk
He was rusty, peeling and had a hole where a clasp had been but he was ready for his makeover.
He did have quite a few problems, but that's just surface stuff.
You can just see the hole in the upper right corner.
On the outside I just needed to trim all the loose paper running a blade along all the edges.
On the inside he had even more loose paper. Anything that is peeling, scrape it off.
For any paper that doesn't peel off, take a really wet rag and let it soak until the water has penetrated the paper.
Once wet, the paper should just scrape away. If it doesn't, it may need to soak a little longer.
Any remaining glue or bits of paper can easily be sanded at this point.
On the outside, take a wire brush or sander to get rid as much of the chunky rust as possible.
I don't know if you noticed the big ol' hole on the left side of the trunk where one of the clasps had been. I patched it with a similar piece of metal as the clasp on the right just without the keyhole.
The little bun feet were cut from some old deck finials. Go to my blog for cutting and attaching info.
Painted the trunk with white chalk paint. The white chalk paint does not cover up rust, it bleeds right thru.
A can of white rustoleum sealed the rust, so far, no more bleed.
Finished off the trunk by modpodging the bottom with my grandmothers old piano sheet music.
I love a good before and after.
Click on the link below for the full trunk tutorial or if you'd like to see all my coffee tables and side tables click here.
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Comments
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I'm a lover of natural wood but I do truly appreciate all your hard work prepping the trunk for your makeover. AND I absolutely admire the addition of your grandmother's music sheets. Very nice. Thanks for sharing with all of us.
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I have a small flat top trunk that was a barn find. it still has the original insert. My husband said no to a restore for a long time So we left it as is ,ugly interior and all. We did put contact paper inside years ago. uck. Now I am ready to restore it. I want to add rollers instead of just feet so its easier to move around. I also plan to clean off the rust and sand down the stays and wood. then put some Danish or tung oil on the woods and rust proofing on the metal. i think the biggest change will be on the inside and now thanks to this article i have some great ideas on what to do with that. These were great ideas for making over a trunk.
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How do you fix seam gaps in laminate flooring?
Strange question. I have a few trunks. How do you get rid of the old, musty smell?