Thursday, July 1, 2010

A New Life for an old Hope Chest

Remember this chest I picked up at the thrift store a couple weeks ago for $15? I actually don't know what it was used for in it's previous lives, but I asume it was someone's hope chest at some point. It looks like it was buried in a garage for a while. Look at all those stains... I didn't even get pictures of the worst of it. I don't even think it was water damage - it kind of looked like an oil of some kind. I figured that I would have to just paint or decoupage it to disguise all of that.

So I started sanding the chest to prep it for painting. I didn't have a specific plan yet, but I figured something would come to me. As I sanded off the old varnish (by hand) I realized that many of the stains were disappearing. I don't have a place in my home for pine furniture, but I was really happy with the grain of the wood and thought it would be a shame to cover it after all that sanding...

I decided to look into varnishes. Varnishing furniture is typically not a process I enjoy, mostly because of the smell but also because I work better with water based paint than oil. At the store I came across a stain called "red mahogony" that happened to match the majority of the furniture in my house. I thought, "well, I'll just give it a shot... try it out somewhere on the bottom and we'lll see..." I also picked up a can of kona brown spray paint just in case.

I couldn't believe how great the stain looked once I got it on and I knew I was onto something. I gave it a couple coats of varnish and a couple coats of polyurethane. Added some hardware in the form of some handles on either side to ease moving it.

And then I upholstered the lid. I'd never upholstered anything in my life and the sum total of what I knew about the job was that you need to pull the fabric tight, you should use batting to soften the look of the foam corners underneath, that I would have to buy a heavy duty staple gun and that my parents had done it to our dining room chairs long ago so it couldn't be that hard.

Here it is...

I probably could have found a fabric that had more "wow" factor of matched my couch pillows better, but I didn't want to buy new fabric and of the upholstery fabrics I had in my stash, this was my favorite.
Yes, that's one of my sons toys in the background. Usually I'm pretty diligent about "staging" my photos, but no one's perfect.
Getting around the hinges was the trickiest part. I think I might remove a couple staples and rework this part... I could have removed the hinges and upholstered it and then put them back on top of the fabric, but I didn't want to see them when it was done.


I just love the way the wood turned out. And I thought the warping of the lid was pretty well disguised unless you go looking for it...
But now the big question is where should I put it? Here in front of my couches as an ottoman?
Or here, under the window, next to my favorite piece of furniture ever and one that it happens to now match perfectly?


Here's a good shot of the fabric - it has a great viney texture on it.


I wish I could tell you that it will hold all of my most treasured quilts, but it's already full of my sons toys. A nice way to disguise them, I think.

Hitting up some great link parties - just check out my sidebar...

22 comments:

girlfrugal said...

It looks gorgeous!

Jan said...

I really like that upholstery & my vote is for putting it in front of the window!

Anonymous said...

Well done! It looks great! I like it by the window best.

Melissa said...

That turned out amazing! Great job!

Keri said...

I love it! Great job!!! I've been searching high and low for a chest that needs some TLC. Thanks for showing us how you fixed yours up.

Unknown said...

Gorgeous! It's perfect with the rest of the room!

randee said...

that look so great! i know what you mean about staging your photos. today i posted some photos of my grandkids on facebook & i had my big fat big toe in one of them. of course my daughter pointed it out, hah!

the chest really does look awesome!

Diane said...

That chest looks great. Love the fabric and the color of the chest.

Decor To Adore said...

Oh I adore this project. It is going in my style file for sure!

Happy 4th of July!

Unknown said...

This looks great! I love the wood stain you used and great just upholstering for the first time...I haven't ever done it...but I think it turned out nice!

Thanks for linking up!

Star @ A Load Of Craft said...

Love it! Under the window looks great. You've inspired me :)

Nicholette said...

I love this project! New life to something sad and overlooked. It looks great in your living room! Thanks for linking up.

Unknown said...

Thanks for joining us for Anything Related #14!! ~Bridgette

Julie @ Frugal and Fabulous Design said...

That fabric is gorgeous, and whole project looks AMAZING.

Thanks for linking up to Fab Friday -

Cheers!

Leslie said...

What a fabulous re-do! I love how it turned out! Thanks for linking up to Hoo's got talent!

KimMalk said...

Wow, now you have a nice piece of furniture. I really like the fabric you used. I'd love if you'd link this up with Fabric Fun Thursday :).

Red Cat Cards said...

oh WOW THIS IS STUNNING!!!!
My jaw is dropped on the floor now..
Really Fabulous !!!

Robin Ange said...

This looks great. I actually dig the upolstery fabric. You should do a quick tutorial on how to upolster because I have so many projects to do and no clue what to do.

Thank you so much for stoping by my blog and linking to Upcycled Awesome! at www.thetshirtdiaries.com.

Kara said...

Great job!!! Way to take on the re-upholstering with zero experience!! Love it under the window!

Anonymous said...

Stunning job. I love it. Found you at Frugalicious Friday! =)

Kimberlee, The Spunky Diva said...

Thank you so much for posting about this!!!! I have an old hope chest just sitting in the attic waiting for a new life, and This I definitly what I am going to do with it!!!! Newest follower.

PS- I love your quilt fabrics!

~Kimberlee
www.thespunkydiva.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Looks amazing!! You did a great job!! Way to go! I really love this transformation because the before picture is horrible!! haha and now its beautiful!

Now I want to try some of that varnish it looks so rich!