Friday, August 24, 2012

Are Paisleys A French Thing?



I can't believe it's been so long since my last post! I thought I was here last Friday, but it's been TWO WEEKS! Please allow me to apologize. Andy has been in Ireland all week so I've been extra busy and quite distracted. I don't sleep well when he is gone and by the time he gets home tonight, he will have been traveling for about 18 hours, so I'm turning the ringers off the cell phones and we are sleeping in tomorrow!

I had a goal of finishing this old foot locker while he was away. I found it at a neighbor's yard sale. Isn't it GORGEOUS?!


Oh, hold on a sec. Wrong picture....



There! That's better! Now--isn't it GORGEOUS?! Keep reading to see the surprise inside! 

This piece was in horrible condition. It had been wet, so the bottom was very warped and rotted. I wouldn't have trusted it to hold up under any load at all, not that I would have put any of  my belongings in it--the inside was just plain NASTY! 


I cleaned it up as much as I could, then primed and painted it, inside and out. I used a satin spray paint in Almond then sprayed lightly around the edges in Pebble. The surface was still scarred and rough in places, so I didn't even bother trying to make the paint all nice and smooth. 

Of course, I had to "Paisley-fy" it. As soon as I saw that big paisley stencil I knew I wanted to use it on this trunk. (At my house these days, anything that doesn't run away gets painted or covered in fabric. Andy's going to pull in to the garage one day to find me painting tire tracks on his giant toolbox and lining the drawers with denim!) The pattern helps to hide some of the scratches on the surface. I used a creamy white to keep it subtle, then painted the trim. Brown for the "leather" and black for the metal pieces. 

Since I didn't trust the bottom I decided to stand it on end like some of the really big steamer trunks you see. I guess it was intended to stand up, because there is only a handle on the one end and the front. 
I glued a very thin piece of plywood to the bottom and painted it to match the top and sides.


Here is a look at the back side. No one would ever guess how awful it looked a few weeks ago!

To fix up the inside, I covered an old election sign with this great cotton duck I found at Hancock's and glued the sign to the bottom. It's the perfect fabric to go inside a trunk.


I covered another election sign with batting, wrapped it in the awesome fabric, criss-crossed it with black grossgrain ribbon, and added some antique-ish brads where the ribbon intersects. Voila! A French bulletin board! (I honestly did not make the connection between the French bulletin board and the French designs on the fabric until I had it all put together.) Is there any chance that paisleys are a French thing, too? 
The hardest part of the whole project was finding the right piece of wood for the shelves. I figured out how to mount them, but none of the scrap pieces I had looked right. I considered glass, but after two bad cuts (of the glass, not me!) I gave up. I know I could have taken the glass to "the glass place" to be cut, but it was after hours and I wanted this DONE! 
I rummaged around a bit more and found an old potting shelf that was PERFECT! I cut the boards to size and covered the front edge with a piece of wood trim.

Okay. You've been very patient. You can see the inside now.... 


I absolutely love it! I really hate to sell it, but it is headed to our booth at Uncle Doc's to wait for someone else to fall in love with it. I can just see it with books and travel souvenirs on the shelves, and postcards and photos tucked into the ribbon. It's also a good size for DVD's or any number of crafting items. *wink*

I had so much fun with this! Most likely because it was such a challenge.  I love it when I can rescue something that most people would throw out. I have another footlocker and a trunk in the garage, but the footlocker is Dad's, and somehow I don't think he would appreciate the paisleys! 

It's time for me to go get my Hubby! Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!
Michele 

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