Transform a Vintage Suitcase Into Side Table With Character

6 Materials
$30
2 Hours
Easy
I found an old suitcase, which I upcycled into a fabulous side table. Not only that, I added extra character to the case with some vintage luggage labels.

I love to travel an often use a travel theme in my upcycles one of my most popular upcycles is a Map Suitcase which you can see here.

Old suitcases are great for repurposing into storage and furniture. I am, therefore, always on the lookout for old unloved suitcases and like this one, often pick them up very cheaply.




Part of the charm of this particular case was its colour and aged look so I didn’t want to do too much to the outside of it. I just gave it a good clean with some leather cleaner. I used wire wool to scrape away an excess rust from the hinges and lock.
The inside of the suitcase was in a particularly bad state so I ripped out the old lining and gave it a new one.


In the past, I have lined my suitcases with fabric such as my brilliant map case. However this time I decided to use wallpaper.
The only reason I used wallpaper and not fabric is because I had some lovely Orla Kiely paper scraps left from previous upcycling projects that I thought would look great with this vintage case.


The color was perfect and the print had a lovely vintage vibe to it.
Handy tips and tricks on to line a suitcase with wallpaper are on the blog post.
To turn this vintage case into a side table I needed to give it a bit of height. I bought four 4″ hairpin legs see here. 



To attach the legs to the suitcase I simply drilled holes in the bottom of the suitcase. The hairpin legs were attached by screwing through the bottom of the case and into a wallpaper covered plywood base I’d inserted.




To personalize my suitcase side table and add character I cut out and decoupaged some vintage luggage stickers and labels to my suitcase.


Bergen in Norway is a special place for my family, so I used some vintage stickers and labels from there. I have scanned these in and you can download them from my blog (link below) for free.


I just used Mod Podge to decoupage the labels to the case.



You can also print out personalize and make this vintage luggage tag.



I love this upcycled vintage suitcase side table not only does it look great with all those lovely old luggage labels and hotel stickers but it’s really handy for storing my magazines.
Where's your favourite place ?
As you can see it goes well with my Norwegian map chair.
Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Claire at Pillarboxblue
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
3 of 10 questions
  • Reenee Gray Reenee Gray on Jun 08, 2018

    Where did you get those lamps ? Both the silver one and the yellow one

  • Alison Johnson Alison Johnson on Jun 08, 2018

    I love this project. How can I save this until I get my ducks in a row?

  • Mary Hise Mary Hise on Jun 08, 2018

    I have a vintage mini trunk that had been painted beige. Any ideas on what to do over the old paint to restore a vintage look?

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 54 comments
Next