Old Trunk Tutorial
by
Gary Hardman
1 Material
$50
15 Hours
Medium
I took this old trunk and gave it a new life! With some elbow grease, vinegar, and window cleaner this trunk looks brand new!
The first task was to strip the leather off. Most of it I could pull off, the rest took a box knife to cut it off. Below is picture with all the leather off.
I then cleaned the outside with window cleaner which worked pretty well. It did have 100 plus years of dirt on and in it. The inside was a wreck. I stripped 2 layers of wallpaper using a solution of vinegar and hot water and using a wire brush and scraper. Really need to keep paper soaked. Labor intense. It still smelled after letting the vinegar set in it for days. I looked online for solutions for smell and they suggested bars of soap and vinegar. I instead, since it was bare wood, sealed the inside and outside with tung oil. It worked!!! Now I can store linens in this beautiful keepsake.
It looks great in it's original form!
Please jump in with suggestions on what you did to rehab an old chest.
Comments
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2 of 8 comments
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such a great job ! I have 2 old wooden trunks in my attic...nothing as special as yours, just plain wood, but I am determined to drag one down and sand it to see what's under those old layers of paint ! Thanks for the inspiration !
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This was probably my 4th one to redo. We still use the one I got out of the trash that had canvas on it. I stripped and sanded it and 42 years later it is still a gorgeous side table.
Jump in and see what happens, take pictures and post on Hometalk. I look forward to seeing it.
Frequently asked questions
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I have 2 old chests both have a lot of deterioration the bottom and missing hinges. Any suggestions on finding parts?