Distressed!

by Bonnie Shirley Coates

5 Materials

$50

6 Hours

Medium

Another garage sale find I just could not pass up! Like many other pieces I have found at various flea markets and garage sales, I purchased this old trunk for additional storage and with the hope of transforming it into something great. I used it to store Christmas decorations for several years and finally decided to bite the bullet and do something outside my comfort zone - distress!

distressed , painted furniture, storage ideas

This is what the trunk look like when I purchased it for almost nothing. It had been spray painted gold. Underneath the paint was, what I thought to be, hot glue, in the words "Dad's work shoes". The glue like substance was all over the trunk.

Another view of the golden masterpiece.

The top after stripping some of the paint and scraping off the red and blue rubbery substance I thought was hot glue. I am still unsure what it was.

The side handles were missing... yes, more glue/melted rubber designs.

The inside wasn't much better. The original paper was pealing away and the wood was not in the best of shape.

Inside the top of the trunk.

3 coats of paint later. I wanted to post a picture of the sanded down, pre-paint trunk but I forgot to take a photo. I even took this photo of after a little distressing.

I ordered this fabulous stencil from Ebay. It was the perfect size.

I have never distressed anything in my life. In fact, I have always loved the natural look of old furniture and try to enhance the original patina so the thought of distressing something so old made ME distressed!

I used sand paper and steal wool to distress the edges and to enhance the original dents and gouges.

I am happy with my first attempt. Maybe next time I will be a little more brave and take it to a different level.

Another view of the nearly finished project. I still want to add a protective matte finish to protect the stenciled top and front.

I lined the inside with some scrap pink fabric I had on hand. I plan to trim it out with decorative trim to finish the seams/edges and touch up the painted edges inside.