New Modern Look For Outdated Cedar Chest

3 Materials
$60
6 Hours
Easy

I bought this cedar chest at an auction for $50. My budget usually doesn't extend that far but the cedar chest had potential. The outdated chest presented a challenge......bring it into the 21st century.

The front of the cedar chest had curvy details on each end and those were the first things to go. I was able to pop them off with a putty knife and hammer.

The curvy details didn't work for me at all. Next I removed the furniture pulls. The faux drawers didn't need them anyway.

After getting rid of all the excess outdated stuff I gave the chest a good vacuuming and wiping down.

Before applying the paint I primed the chest with Glidden Gripper Primer. I always have my primer tinted gray. Gray works great as a base for any paint color.

I try to use paint I have on hand instead of buying new. Sometimes that means I have to mix colors together to get a paint color I can work with. I wanted the chest to be white but I didn't have enough white paint on hand. I had two colors of Martha Stewart Vintage Decor Paint. I combined Smoke and Wedding Cake (white) to get a very, very, pale gray......almost white paint color.

The top of the chest was in good shape. I cleaned and shined it up with Howard's Feed n Wax. Two-tone furniture has a bit of character don't you think?

The original hardware was ugly. I went through my stash of used hardware and found the glass pulls. They were perfect! The cedar chest looks fresh and modern now.

Take chances when working on a new project. Removing those little curvy wood details and changing the hardware was what made this project work!

Resources for this project:
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Kathy Owen | Petticoat Junktion
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