Unique Chic And Rustics: My Upcycled And Repurposed Life: Chalk Painted Vintage Hope Chest

Hello Everyone,
Welcome, and thanks for joining me!! Today's post is about the refinishing of the vintage hope chest that my grandfather had made for me when I was about 11 years old!! My grandpa owned a big sawmill, and would supply lumber for this old Indian that we called "Chief"!! He was awesome, and in return, sometimes Chief would make us some pretty awesome handmade furniture. Pretty much whatever we wanted. I still have the oak roll-top desk he made for me, which I still absolutely love!! The last thing that Chief made for me was a round top hope chest, and that is what I am refinishing today!!

Here it is after I sanded it all down:

Pretty, isn't she!! Lol! And heavy too!!

Ok, now it's time to get the paint ready! I used my homemade Chalk Paint recipe, which is 2 tablespoons of non-sanded grout, mixed really well with about 2 1/2 tablespoons of water. Then take that and mix with 1 cup of paint. I used a white Behr paint this time. I painted 1 coat, let it dry, which doesn't take long at all with chalk paint!! Don't ya just love that?!! Once dry, I took 320 grit sand paper, and sanded it down, just slightly. Enough to make it smooth to the touch. Then I took a damp rag, and wiped it all down, and at that point, it looked like this:

    One coat just wasn't good enough, so after lightly sanding it, and wiping it down, I slapped on a 2nd coat of the white paint!

I was pretty pleased with the 2nd coat, and after letting it dry, I lightly sanded the whole chest down again, and then I started heavily distressing all the edges and corners!! I love that!! Distressing is my favorite part!! I think I might have mentioned that before?!! Lol!!

   I forgot to mention that before sanding the chest the first time around, I took off the hardware that was on the front. The front hardware (the latch), along with the handles were all brass. After I took the photo above, I removed the side handles as well, and sprayed them all down with Krylon Brushed Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze in Satin finish. This color is gorgeous!!

   Finally, before I put a finish on this bad boy, I decided to do something a little different than what I normally would have done! I wanted to stencil the number "27" on the front somewhere!! This is the Hope Chest that my grandpa had made for me, and he had told me "Now, while your young, you can put special things and keepsakes in here to keep them safe so you'll still have them when you are all grown up, married, and have children of your own. And when that time comes, you can finish filling it up with your own babies keepsakes, and special thing that you want to keep safe for when they are older!!" Well, that is just what I have done!! In the bottom of my hope chest is somethings that were special to me when I was younger, and the other 90% of the chest is filled with tons of my babies things!! So, back to the number 27, On February 27th of such and such year, was my husband Steve and I's first date!!! Sappy, I know!! Lol

   I finally decided to stencil the #27 using Behr Paint in Classic Silver Matte, another beautiful color!! Plus, I love gray's, and white's too, of coarse!!

   After that, I sealed it with Rust-oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Matte Clear! Now that's a mouthful!! Lol! Then, the final thing was just putting all the hardware back on!! I am very, very happy with the end results!! Here they are:

So, what do you think?? I would love to hear what your thoughts are!!

And here it is all prettied up with some French, Cottage & Shabby Chic Decor!!

I hope that I have inspired you to take on a DIY project of your own!! There's nothing like having a beautiful piece of vintage furniture, or whatever it may be, and Doing It Yourself!!!! I hope you all have enjoyed this post, and stay tuned, cause there's lots more to come!!!