Trunks are awesome; they hold a ton and are useful in almost any home space. I acquired my trunk when I went off to boarding school, so of course I chose a color my middle school self would like: a dreadful "Barney the Dinosaur" purple. Out of convenience, I took the trunk to the dorms for storage and loved having it around. I could store anything I wanted to inside. It wasn't until I moved into my first apartment that I began to hate looking at it. Gradually, it moved further and further into the back of the closet until it was out-of-sight-out-of-mind.
Fast forward two years later, I'm in a new place that I'm much more inspired by. Things are finding spots and things are remaining organized; all the pictures are hung and the drawers all have order to them. We needed a piece in our living room that we could use for storage of bulky items and that could have blankets stacked on top of it.
"The trunk would be perfect!" I thought, "If only it wasn't such an ugly color.."
6 Nights, 5 bottles of paint, and 3 coats of Mod Podge later, the trunk is a very neutral navy and I love how it turned out. Because I'm so proud of turning storage lemons in to lemonade, I thought I would share!
This picture was snapped in high school just as I was about to leave for the dorms, just now noticing how "PURPLE!" that particular shade looks.
What You Will Need:
-5-6 Bottles of Acrylic Paint (I used 59 ml bottles, the bigger the bottle the less you have to buy, I'm sure you could use other types of paint if you have extra lying around)
-Drippings Cup
-An Old/New/Used/Vintage/Thrifted Trunk.
How To:
Step One: Find a spot to paint in. You'll need somewhere that can allow for the trunk to dry in-between coats, so lay a scrap towel or newspaper down and pick which side of it you want to start with. Because of the shape of the trunk, you will need to paint and let coats completely dry before rotating to another side (it makes a mess otherwise, you have been warned).
Step Two: Once you have decided on where to start, begin painting the first coat of paint on one panel. Depending on what kind of trunk you have, you may need to tape your metal edges (mine were lifted enough that I could avoid taping them up).
Step Three: Paint the first coat and let completely dry. Paint the second coat and repeat. Rotate the trunk to a new face and paint it like before. Continue to do this until each face has a fresh, new color.
Step Four: Mix Mod Podge in a cup (2 part matte, 1 part gloss) and repeat the above instructions until the entire trunk is covered in top coat.
Step five: Let dry and wipe down. Boom! Color change!
Pictured Here: Acrylic Box/ White Knit Bins/ Bookshelf/ Bird Lamp/ Paisley Blanket/ Kashwere Travel Blanket/ Pendelton Blanket
Happy painting!
xo,
Natalie
I had no idea that you, too, went to boarding school!
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