Neglected Steamer Trunk Makeover

I've always had an affinity for trunks.  I can still remember my first coffee table, it was a wicker trunk.  I don't know what it is I like so much about trunks.  Maybe the idea of travel or the past?  I'm not sure, but I really do love them.  When we moved we realized our coffee table was way too big for our new family room so the Hubby and I decided we wanted to have a steamer trunk as a coffee table.  Try as we might we couldn't find one anywhere that wasn't crazy expensive or a brand new trunk trying to be an old trunk.  I knew I wanted an OLD trunk with history and character.  We went to antique store after antique store and we didn't find a thing.  It wasn't meant to be.  It worked out perfect for us because as I wrote  in a previous post I had a very generous friend give me a beautiful coffee table to redo.  Problem solved!

Of course when I wasn't looking for a  trunk anymore....I found one!  It wasn't in very good condition, but I knew I could do something great with it so I bought it.  It's been sitting in the garage for a month or so waiting for some attention.  Finally I got around to it this week.

Here's what it looked like before I got too far along.  I have to get better at remembering to take pictures before I start!

Here you can see the hardware is a mess.  Completely rusted brass plate....nothing I could do to make it prettier.  The main lock is also broken.

On the far left you can see just how rusted this thing was.  

Then there are the leather handles that literally disintegrate in your hands when you try to use them.

You can see all the gouges and scratches in the body of the chest as well. 

Then there's the inside....YIKES.  Febreeze was my BFF on this one :-)

I'm definitely not storing anything in this trunk.  Febreeze really did take all the smells away!

Hmmmm......how observant are you?  Did you see that in the last 2 pictures the trunk is PAINTED???

This is how it looked with 2 coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.  This paint really does stick to anything!  It went on quite well on the metal parts as well as the body of the trunk.

2 coats of paint and a coat of clear Annie Sloan wax and I was ready for another step.  One side note on the waxing process for anyone thinking of doing this.  Put the wax on with a wax brush and really work it into the paint, but in small sections.  This protects the paint and gives it a nice sheen.

Yep...I even painted the disintegrating leather handles!

 Then I used some sand paper and gave it some of it's character back.  I wanted it to look it's age....like it's been around the world many times.

Here is the end result.....YIPPEE I'm super happy with how it turned out.  I love it!  I didn't know if I had a place for it, but I found one.  I thought I was going to have to sell this one, but I just couldn't do let it go.

I adore how the painted hardware turned out.

I'm also super excited about how the top turned out.  It looks like it's been well-used and loved over the years.

This just goes to show that no matter how ugly a piece of furniture might look....there's always something that can be done to bring it back to life and make it pretty again.  When my Hubby saw this piece at the store he really didn't see what I could do to it.   I worked on it while he was away on a business trip.  When he got back and saw the trunk painted, before all the distressing, he couldn't believe the transformation.  That's the best compliment a girl can get!!

******LImking to Shades of Amber Chalk Paint Link Party http://shadesofamberinc.blogspot.com/
and to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday www.missmustardseed.com