Friday, August 19, 2011

That ol' Swedish Trunk

Awhile back I posted about this old trunk...





Our farmer neighbor asked us if we wanted it.  It was destined for 'the burn pile.'






Of course we took it!  He said it was from 1885.  Edith (a family member) had brought the trunk with her when she emmigrated from Sweden.






The trunk was super musty.







The interior was lined with old images... but not that old.  I think it had been relined in maybe the 60's???








I began by peeling off the pages glued inside.  They were adhered to the trunk with what seemed to be a homemade wheat-paste.  Most of it came off easily.








She was uber-grubby.  One person who commented on the trunk earlier suggested I use a mixture of veggie oil and vinegar to clean her up.  I did.  I also added hot water to the mix.

After just an eensy bit of scrubbing....








I was surprised at how well, and how quickly, she cleaned up!  The odor had also been eliminated.  Good ol' fashioned vinegar  ;)







I really thought about what to do next.  It came clean down to, what appeared to be, the original paint.







I know, I know.  The purists will be so angry.
But, I decided to paint her.  I didn't have any sentimental attachment to her, as she wasn't part of my own family history, and that is part of what factored into this decision.







Edith (that's the woman who crossed the Atlantic, and heretofore the trunk is named after) received a paint job in vanilla milkshake.







I really liked the hardware so I decided to leave it alone.








I wanted to do some writing on top of the trunk.  One commentor suggested I paint the year of arrival on her.  I thought it was an excellent idea.  I looked at some fonts online and then scripted them myself onto the trunk top.  I did modify them a bit.








Here is Edith with her script and nail heads painted black.  After this step, my husband commented that it would've been cooler to paint 'Sweden' in Swedish.  Yes, it would have.  But that would have been information that would have been useful to me prior to doing this step.








I then took the orbital sander to the surface and did some distressing.   I really liked the effect I was getting.







I started to lay on a black glaze.  However, this step was immediately halted to a complete stop.  I did not care for the look I was getting, AND it was stripping a lot of my white paint off.  I let it dry out and then repainted that area white and sanded again.







I finished with some MInwax and brought her in the house for some beauty shots.





























And there she is folks, 1885, Edith Alexander!


Linking up with:


Savvy Homemade Monday at Erin's HomeSavvy A to Z
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
{PRIMP}  Primp's Wednesday Party
Debbie Doos Monday Newbie Party
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Night Special
French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday
Laurie Anna's Vintage Home
Show and Tell Friday- My Romantic Home



19 comments:

Anita said...

I have to admit I cringed just a bit when I read at first that you had painted it, but it does look rather lovely. What a great find though and I can't believe your neighbor was going to burn it!

Carol-Anne said...

It's turned out beautifully! Are you gonna keep it?

Mona Kay Gorman said...

Love!!! Just love!! Thanks for the tip about vinegar...and I have a similar trunk I may paint seeing how beautifully yours came out!!

Courtney ~ French Country Cottage said...

Super charming! I love how it came out~well done on the transformation! Thanks for sharing at Feathered Nest Friday! :)

Anonymous said...

This turned out great! I love the font you chose! Do you mind me asking what font it is? :)

Erin of HomeSavvyAtoZ.com said...

Your trunk is BEAUTIFUL! Thank you so much for linking up at Savvy HomeMade Monday. I hope you will party again tomorrow!

Pam Kessler said...

It turned out great. I can't believe they were going to throw it into the burn pile!

Debbiedoos said...

WOWEE! You made it your own. I totally understand why you painted it and for your valid reasons. I recently did this to a trunk I put in my sons room for his airsoft stuff. I had one comment saying they would not have painted it. It meant nothing to us and I wanted to make it his own. I love what you did with the stenciling too. Thanks for sharing with my newbie party.

The Shy Bee said...

Very cool! Thanks so much for sharing! I love this NEWBIE link party! Please follow me back!

eleven-o-one said...

I cannot believe someone would burn that! I love it and you did a great job. Your photos are lovely too.

Grandma Barb's This and That said...

Hi Andrea,
I love the way the trunk turned out!
I am mentioning you on my blog today, called the Liebster Blog. It is meant to connect new bloggers.
Have a great day.
Barb

foreverdecorating said...

This trunk turned out so cool.

Melissa said...

Wow!!! It's gorgeous!!! You did a beautiful job with it and I love every detail. I love the vanilla milkshake too - it's the same color we painted our son's nursery. :) Thank goodness your neighbor asked you first before burning it!

Unknown said...

im glad you came over and followed me because i came over here and followed you as well and i absolutely love this old trunk and what you did to it .. beautiful. id love to feature it on my next revival monday if that would be ok let me know...
nice meeting you!

Emily@LovelyBeasts said...

I'm really loving your painted script on top. It made the trunk more meaningful. And the distressing you did was perfect. I love how it looks in your house! And I'm super jealous of your French chairs. They are beautiful!

Grandma Barb's This and That said...

Andrea, Congratulations on being one of the top 3 blogs viewed on DebbieDo's Newbie Party! Way to go girl!
Barb

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style said...

I love the transformation. Came over from debbiedoos. Hope you will join in my weekly party sometime. I love the writing you did on that piece.

Kaye said...

Nice job!!! Emily from The Lovely Beasts sent me!

Anonymous said...

Hi there i love your trunk, how luck were you to get it from your neighbour ! love the font and colour. I am your newest follower ;)

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