A Metal Trunk Makeover with Vintage Book Pages

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This old metal trunk makeover, using vintage papers and decoupage, transformed a neglected, unused pieced into a beautiful side table for the living room!

DIY Metal-Covered Trunk Makeover

This trunk is a much traveled trunk.  It was born in New York many many years ago. And as time went on it moved to Greece.  

It has held many pretty things. Things such as curtains and a multitude of fabrics,  pillow cases and the like.  

But it is mostly remembered for having held a thing once known as a dowry.  Now if that concept is not vintage, well I don’t know what is.  It held lace doilies and needlepoint works and other handmade objects that were made by my mother a life time ago.  

The metal covered trunk was old and not in fashion any more. And in great need of some sort of repair, or at least camouflage.

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So I embarked on this DIY old trunk makeover with a few supplies and a lot of imagination.

What I Used for This Metal Trunk Makeover:

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• Mod Podge Water based Sealer
• Scissors
• Retractable Utility Knife
• Book Pages from Old Book or you can use this
• Varnish to seal in the pages

  For the longest time I did not know what to do with this old thing, till one day I chanced upon an equally old book, with old yellowed pages.

Now this could not be a coincidence, that a book of chivalry should cover a trunk full of things from days gone by when chivalry was still prevailent. 

The How to:

Using Mod Podge decoupage medium, I placed the yellowed paper on all the surfaces of the trunk that did not have metal. I used a utility knife to cut around the metalwork.

    But that was not enough.  I wanted it to look still older, and so I painted it with a walnut tinted varnish. This was in Greece so I guess the closest you can get is this product.  The best solution would be to find yellowed pages. 

      The handles were also brushed  with the varnish.  I really liked that patina on the metalwork.

      And here it is with the varnish, it makes the pages look even older. 

        And now I’d like to show you just what I keep in that old chivalrous trunk of mine. These are my mother’s treasures, which she left to me 35  years ago when I lost her.

  This is my way of honoring my mother, who was an exceptional lady.  Only a chivalrous trunk can hold the treasures of a lady.   My thanks to all of you for bearing with me  today and taking a walk with me to my past.

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