Chest Makeover Features a Beloved Endangered Species
by
Donna Schulz
8 Materials
$63
3 Days
Easy
I recently purchased a old Lane cedar chest off a local community buy and sale Facebook website in Florida for $25. I wanted a small chest for storage to use at our vacation home there.
Before and after of chest.
Once I got it home, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do in order to give this old chest a new life, & a new look. I thought about trying to convert it into some type of treasure chest, but finally settled the idea of giving it a bright yet simple makeover, but wanted it to be something that had a Floridian stamp on it. After a little more though I came up with the idea of drawing out a few sketches of the endangered Florida Manatees.
One of my sketches before coloring.
Once I had drawn out about 8 different sketches, I colored them & then photographed what I felt ended up being the best 6 images, and arranged each of them into a collage using a photo application I have on my computer.
Collage I put together to use.
Then after creating the collage, I made a even larger collage using that collage image over & over again, then I had it printed onto 3/4 of a yard of a heavy cotton upholstery material that I would use to recover the seat cushion. Next, I then removed the cushion from the top of the chest.
3/4 yard of printed collage heavy material.
Once the cushion was removed, I recovered it by simply using my staple gun, and the material I had printed with the Manatee collage design.
I then moved on to removing the hardware from the chest, sanded it a little to roughen up the surface to better hold the paint, and plugged the holes that were made by removing the hardware with some wood putty that I had on hand. After allowing all the wood putty had dry, I began painting the chest mixing together approximately a half of a quart of a brownish/beige interior satin paint that I had on hand with approximately a forth of a quart of a olive drab green satin interior paint that I also had on hand, both left over from other projects, to create a light mossy green color for the chest.
Chest once painted with satin interior paint
I painted the chest using a higher grade paint brush that I had purchased previously from Home Depot for repainting the upholstery of a outdoor patio set. I allowed the first coat of paint to dry completely, then added a second coat and allowed it to dry over night. The next morning I added a coat of MinWax Fast drying polyurethane clear wood finish in satin over the paint to seal it. I allowed it to dry for a hour & a half, then I applied a 2nd coat, and allowed that to dry completely until the next morning. The following morning I added the cushion that had been recovered back to the top of the chest, and moved it to its new spot inside our home.
Bright & Cheerful Manatee Salute chest
My Lane cedar chest featuring the endangered Florida Manatee once completed, is bright, cheerful, and a wonderful addition to our guest bedroom.
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Update: I found a couple of small wooden Manatee plaques at a thrift store, painted & added them to this project for a extra effect. I think they really made a difference.
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