Junk in the Trunk

I have been so excited to post about this project, but apparently that excitement did not carry over into my actually DOING the project. From avoiding the heat waves and the spring showers to locating all of my craft supplies after the epic spring cleaning that occurred before our Master’s party, this project has not exactly been smooth sailing. BUT, like all my projects I got a great deal, and couldn’t resist the rehab of this old trunk. The best part was that the price was perfect… it was $free.99. Thats right, I didn’t pay anything for this old trunk we found outside my families lake house. Its not that I had been missing the hidden potential in the trunk all these years, we sold the house to someone and just recently bought it back… to find all of our old things still there, so I rediscovered it and my older, more tasteful and mature self loved it! As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it and went to work convincing my family that is storage purposes at the lake had been outlived and the trunk would be much better loved as a coffee table inside my new apartment! Plus, they can find somewhere else to put that extension cord and chain saw! So, after much persuasion and one big heave-ho the trunk was loaded in the back of my dads truck and headed home for a little refurb before my big move (which is less than two weeks away, AAAHHH!, more on that later, as I am convinced its cursed, considering my relocation has been the embodiment of Murphy’s Law). Anywho, this old trunk is great. It just needed a little TLC, a quick sand and rinse and a nice coat of polyurethane, to go from “drab to fab” sorry for being corny, except its how I feel, because I have literally SCOURED thrift stores for months trying to find something like this for a signature conversation piece in my apartment. Now I have one, and its personal to me, and came from a place where my family and I have shared so many great memories over the years, and now I am taking it with me to start a new phase of my life and create new memories in a new place! Talk about repurposing and up cycling! So, enough about me! Here’s the trunk!

Ok, so this was what it looked like when I rescued it from its former life as a chainsaw storage box! It was dirty and dusty… and covered in cob webs and nastiness. When I spray the inside out… there were several yellow jackets and other critters inside (obviously not alive) so, this little gem had definitely be left by the wayside for sometime.

After some light sanding and a deep cleansing bath, I was able to return the trunk to its former glory, I let it get a little sun bath to dry it out and hopefully bring back some of that lighter wood color so it still had that old used look.

Finally, a spent a few hours in the fumes and heat, covering every square inch of the trunk in polyurethane so that way when my slob kabob friends come over they don’t leave drink rings on the wood, etc. I am really excited and can’t WAAAAIT to put in to my apartment. 1 because real coffee tables are expensive and 2 because its so awesome!