New Life for an Old Trunk

When my trunks arrived here in South Africa, 

they looked like this.

What the picture doesn't show you,

is that the bottoms are falling out 

from a "certain person" putting as much as she could possibly get in them.

(Yes, that "certain person" is me.)

Seeing how, there is always a need for more storage space,

I decided to give new life to these old trunks.

I started on the better looking of the two.

It is the one in the first picture covered in the faux wood contact paper.

It took a while to peal all of the contact paper off 

and then the layer of vinyl paint beneath.

(Hint: sometimes you don't need to buy harsh chemicals to strip things.

The paint seemed to be starting to separate in places anyway,

so I just used a scrapper and a wet rag.

 I found if I soaked the rag in water and laid it over the a section,

the paint would come off easily.)

Finally, when I got it stripped down to the original piece.

I gave it 2 coats of basic primer.

(Yes, the hardware store here is also one of my favorite stores,

 but not as nice a my favorite - LOWE'S in the States.)

After priming it, came the creative part.

I was not sure how I wanted to finish the trunk.

Then I thought about something I had wanted to try for a while.

My friend has done this with a picture frame.

Using the glue gun sounded fun, but I wanted a different look for this old trunk.

So, I decided to make it look like embossed leather.

After finding a large stencil that would work,

I began to trace the pattern onto the trunk.

Here is the pattern I chose for the sides.

When I went through my paints, I found a bunch of puff fabric paint.

It will work the same as a glue gun to give any project dimension.

Using the puff paints, I traced the stenciled pattern.

That first side came out so nice. 

I couldn't wait for it to dry.

This is what I found, the next morning.

Sadly, it was a wash out.

We were having rainy season here.

If you live in high humidity climates or if you are experiencing rainy season,

using the puff paint is not for you.

Don't worry, it was nothing the glue gun couldn't fix!

For the front and back I traced a different pattern...

...and then used my glue gun to follow the pattern.

When I came home from the store and started painting,

I didn't understand why after carefully looking for paint,

I chose this bright yellow.

What was I thinking????

Personally, I think it was a product of living in a bright yellow house

(notice the yellow walls in the background).

For the top coat, I chose a dark brown DTM (Direct To Metal) paint.

I had never used this kind of paint.

It is now one of my favorites for projects like this.

Now I understand why I chose the bright yellow!

Using a rag, I applied the DTM Paint to my trunk in a circular motion.

As you can see, it brought out the pattern.

BUT, the color was still a little one dimensional for me.

Left: plain DTM           Right: brushed with gold

So, I dry brushed it with gold.

You can see the differance here.

The gold certainly adds color & dimension.

Now you can see all of the detail.

The faux embossed leather technique works great!

I love the way it looks in my house!

This project took me a few months to complete,

 because I only had 10 minutes here, or an hour there.

The gluing of the pattern was the most time consuming part of the project.

Now I have the other trunk to  redo!

I love to do these projects, because it reminds me of the work that God has done in me.

He has made me a "new creature".

2Corinthiams 5:17  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

He has given me a "new life".

Romans 6:4  "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

I hope you too have that "newness" that can only be found through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Linking up to:

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