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.
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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Your trunk looks fantastic and I love the story behind it – Thanks for linking up to Pin Worthy Wednesday, I have pinned your post to the Pin Worthy Wednesday Pinterest Board.
Thanks Amber Jane for taking the time to read the story behind the trunk.
Oh wow! What a great makeover! You’re so creative, and the trunk looks great! Thanks for linking up at Submarine Sunday!!!
Thanks T’onna, I looks like I just bought it. Even thought it’s so old. Isn’t it funny how old is the new new and new is old, and now I’m confusing you.
I love the makeover. What a wonderful idea to use book pages, but what makes it even more special is the story behind the project from the book pages used to the treasure inside. I enjoyed every minute of it! Thank you for coming over and sharing it with us at Brag About It!
~Laurie
It was my pleasure Laurie. I’m so glad you enjoyed reading my story. It’s funny how these things take shape. At first I was just annoyed with the black box. Once I started to work on it my thoughts travelled and this is the result.
Your trunk is absolutely stunning! Absolutely love what you have done with it. Thanks so much for joining us at The Creative Circle link party and I look forward to seeing you again soon 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet words. I didn’t appreciate it until I upcycled it!
This chest is amazing!! Love the DIY 🙂
Brook <3
http://www.basicbrook.wordpress.com
Thanks Brook. I have to agree with you on this one. It is very special to me.
What a wonderful transformation! Thanks for sharing at #frifree4all
Thank you Hayley
What a great project and what a bonus what you found inside. You’re right if that doesn’t count as vintage, I don’t know what does! What a nice well travelled piece.
Sally @ Life Loving
#LifeLovingLinkie
Sally I feel so inspired now, I want to decoupage everything in sight!!
Mary, what a difference! I love this look! Beautiful job! Thank you for linking up with Friday’s Furniture Fix this week! I hope you’ll join us again next week!.. Carrie
Thanks for the compliment Carrie. I was just wondering why I didn’t think of this sooner. I’ll see you on Friday.
OMG! This is amazing! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this! Beautiful job!
Thanks Audra. I love it too, and am so excited that it is finally finished. Now I look at it and don’t see a black hole.
Mary, you did a fabulous job on this trunk. It looks wonderful. How great that it holds special meaning for you and now it fits right in with your decor! Pinned and Tweeted.
Beverly, this is my current favorite, plus it removed the eyesore from the room. Now it has become a jewel. Thanks for your sweet words.
How cool! We have that EXACT same trunk (the original version, of course) in our living room acting as a coffee table right now. It stores our blankets and it quite the center of activity! We got it from my husband’s grandmother 🙂
Carlee, I’ve had this trunk forever!! And I had little kids jumping on it and stomping on it. So it was time for a beauty make over.
I love what you did to update your trunk! The aged effect of the books themselves and the varnish you added are just perfect. Thanks for sharing the treasures from your mother – such a special way to remember her. Thanks for coming to share with us at Dream. Create. Inspire. Link. every week!
Jenny thanks for your sweet comment. The varnish made all the difference in the end. And of course I’ll be visiting the party!
I used to have an old trunk like this, I’m not sure where I got it, probably a garage sale. I used it for years, painted to match my bedroom and filled with linens and keepsakes. I don’t know why I sold it, at another garage sale, lol. I wish now I would have kept mine and I love what you did with yours! Preciously filled with family keepsakes. Love it!
Now, I’m wondering why I didn’t do this sooner. Everytime I walk into the living room and look at it I can’t believe what a difference a little paper can make. You should go to another garage sale and find another one!
This is absolutely stunning, Mary! I love trunks and what you’ve done is a piece of art.
Thank you for sharing with the Creative Craft Challenge. Your beautiful work is featured!
http://redoityourselfinspirations.blogspot.com/2015/12/creative-craft-challenge-12.html
I did not see this till now. Thank you Robin!
Wow. This is so creative. I am not much of a DIY gal but I do admire your work.
Thank you so much Elise. I am honored!
I love how this turned out! Using the pages of the book was a great idea, and it looks beautiful! Thank you for sharing at Celebrate It!
Thank you! It is one of my oldest and favorite projects!
I love seeing examples of home decor using books! This is wonderfully inspiring, thank you!
Visiting from the Hearth & Soul Link Party.
Thank you so much Pauline. It was my first project with book pages and if I may say so, it turned out pretty well.
I love what you did with the trunk. And it holds such precious items. Absolutely fantastic!
Thank you Michelle, I am a huge fan of all projects with book pages.
Wow the pages of the that book worked out perfect to make this project awesome!!! Great job, thank you for sharing on Oh my Heartsie Girls Friday Features last week. Hope to see you again soon!
Thank you Karren and thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.
I love your trunk but even more I love seeing your mum’s items, What treasures!
Thank you so much Julie, my mom was so talented. I don’t even have a fingernail of her talent.
Love how this turned out, Mary! I’ve got one that needs this treatment. I redid the inside, but think the outside could use it too!
Thank you Lora. I think it was easier than it looks once you get started. Good luck on yours.
I love how it lightened up the color. Great job!
It is a pleasure to look at it now. Before it was just one black mass. Now it is lighter and looks so pretty in the room.
I love old trunks like this! They all just seem like they were part of such incredible stories, and adventures! Like this one, traveling all the way from New York to Greece! 😉 I love the way you made it over, too!
Jess, thanks so much they really do carry lots of history with them, and to be able to restore them gives me such a happy feeling.
Mary I love what you’ve done with the old trunk! The old book pages were the perfect way to update the old trunk, and I love how the varnish aged the pages even more.
Your mother’s treasures are Beautiful! My mother gas made lots of dollies and table runners that she keeps in a cedar chest that she’s had before I was even born.
Thanks for sharing a little of your past.
Linda this one is really special. I lost my mom when I was 19 so these few treasures are what I hold onto. And the pages were a reminder of the past.
Mary, that’s quite a transformation! I have several old trunks up in my attic that look similar to yours…all from my family too. I can’t bear to part with them, but I know the time will come. What’s ours is only ours for a while and then it becomes someone else’s. This is a wonderful tribute to your mom. I have the same kind of treasures from my grandmother, which I keep in old suitcases. This is a great way to remember your mom!
Thanks so much Florence. I really wanted to make the trunk special so I could keep all her treasures in it. I also have a whole lot more trunks but those are for other posts. This one is the closest to my heart!
Love the trunk AND the doilies. I am also Greek. My grandmother made many of these doilies, some of which I still use. I seem to have become the keeper in the family of these doilies so I have been asking niece and nephew’s wives if they would like some of them. So sad to say they do not want them, so my sister in law and I came up with the idea of framing them or tacking them to handmade pillows so that they have something from their great grand mother. I’ve made some pillows, and they came out awesome. Even made one for a great great grand daughter in her favorite color!
Helen it is so nice to meet a fellow Greek. I know what you mean about no one wanting the doilies. When I was younger I kept them hidden and had framed one. I have lots of them and I’ll have to come up with an idea one of these days.Here is another idea you might like https://www.theboondocksblog.com/home/jewelry-organizer-for-earrings, It is a matter of the style each person has in their home. Thank you Helen for dropping by.
Wow! Impressive. It’s beautiful.
#wonderfulwednesdaybloghop
Thank you so much Jennifer.
Love what you did with it! How cute! 🙂 I found an old trunk like that on the side of the road, but it was so damaged with water and age that I had to leave it. Sad!
Tania, I am so glad you visited. I have been an admirer of your blog for some time now. I really love your style and projects. I hope you are able to find another trunk to up cyle soon. This was such a fun project for me.
What a neat idea Mary! I love old trunks-they have such character and personality. The book pages add extra personality, and just seem to belong with this trunk, as if you bought it that way. How nice that you have something so special to remember your mother! Have a good week 🙂
Nicki, it had no personality or character before, although it did have its hidden treasures. It’s funny after I finished it and it had that nice antique look, even the things inside looked better.
I love what you did with the trunk Mary! I am very curious about the second language I see on your blog, tell me more?
Nicki, I am a Greek American. Born in Greece, then moved to New York as a child where I spent most of my life. If you’d like to know more about me go to my about page. I write in Greek because I have ladies that don’t speak English and so I need to keep my visitors happy. And I am not a fan of Google translate so I do it myself, not perfect mind you, but at least it’s me and not Google.
You know how much I love this trunk, thanks for sharing it at #2usestuesday so everybody can enjoy its transformation, and see your mother’s treasures. Crochet is an art, I can imagine the amount of hours it took her to make those.
Pili, the older I get the more my respect for her grows.
Thanks so much for stopping by!!
What a wonderful story about this wonderful heirloom and what a great transformation!!
Hugs,
Debbie
Debbie you are so immensely talented.. It is always a pleasure to have you drop by.
Very cool trunk, and I love seeing the heirlooms from your mother. They are beautiful. Thank you for sharing them.
Thanks Rebecca… Old is in!! I only wish I knew how to replicate her handiwork.
Mary, a beautiful tribute to a wonderful Mum. What a gorgeous way to honor her memory. She’s be so proud. Sending hugs. Mimi xxx
Thanks Mimi. These doilies are just like her ethereal and delicate and a true lady. Thanks for dropping by, xoxo .
The truck turned out so nice. Decoupage is such an interesting medium and adds an individual look to a piece, I enjoyed looking at the keepsakes. It is so special to have items that our parents made or had handed down to them.
Yes Debra it was a nice surprise for me because altho ught I knew \I had those doilies, I had never appreciated them. I think becoming a blogger had given me a whole new appreciation of old things. And of course she was very good at this.
Mary, what a wonderful job you did with that trunk!! I love how it looks now, still looking old but with charm.
And your mother treasures are lovely, it takes a lot of work to make those doilies.
Pili, this post evolved. It started out with me wanting to save the trunk and then when I emptied it I realized there was a hidden treasure inside.
Oh Mary how beautiful, because of what you did with it and because of your memories about your beloved mom. And the doilies are so special and this way you can show them and see them every day! I have treasures from my mom and I love remembering her that way. Covering the trunk with those book pages is a fabulous idea! I would love a trunk, even thought right now I don’t have room for it.
Katrin, for years I had used it as a coffee table in the living room. I didn’t have a coffee table and that was the right size. So the y are very versitile. Thanks for your very touching comment.
Mary, I love this trunk!! Fantastic idea to cover it with book pages! Also those treasures your mother left you are beautiful! She did a wonderful job crocheting those doilies!! What amazing heirlooms to pass down.
Keri, she had tried to teach me how to make them when I was young , but it was very hard, I ony learned a bit, and now I don’t remember. At least I have the doilies.
Such a lovely story! I’ve always loved trunks like these. You did a wonderful job and its such a nice tribute to your mother
xokathleen
Thank you so much Kathleen. I had that trunk sitting in the living room half finished and it was glaring at me. Sometimes it’s hard to finish a project for no known reason. But I’m glad I finally got it done.
That is such a beautiful project, Mary. I wasn’t sure how you got the pages under the metal. Did you have to remove the metal fixtures first?
I’ve read about Mod Podge projects but I haven’t tried one myself yet but this is so inspiring.
And that last statement about the chivalrous trunk to hold a lady’s belongings. Love it!
Keep on sharing!
Thanks Karen. The paper is glued onto the trunk up to where the metal starts. I guess I did such a good job you couldn’t tell. 😉 It would be impossible to put the metal back on if I had removed it. It’s a pretty old trunk, and in danger of falling apart if tampered with too much. Thanks for stopping by, I’m always happy to hear from you.
I love the new look of the old trunk. It is beautiful. It is a nice place to stow the treasures from your mom. The treasures are gorgeous. Good job!
xo Dianne
Thanks Dianne. Now that I fixed the trunk I can also show off the old treasures.
I love your trunk! Great idea with the book pages! You should share this over at my Making Broken Beautiful party! It runs every Thursday thru Sunday! I do hope you come and inspire!
Smiles!
Terry
http://thecuratorscollection.wordpress.com
Terry, thanks for the invite and the sweet comment. I’m on my way!
I love your trunk redo! The aged pages look great too. We have an old trunk…on the blog somewhere…that belonged to my hubby’s grandfather who was a merchant around 1900. It even has an old shipping tag. Love it for the stories. Sheila
Sheila I’m always happy when you visit. I have another one in my basement,an upright that I’m thinking of tackling next. And yes they do have stories to tell.
That’s indeed a very nice way to remember your mom. Beautiful set, Mary!
Have a fabulous day.
#tiptuesday
It’s funny how you start a project and you don’t know where you’ll end up. I’m as surprised as anyone as to how this project turned out and what I found in that old trunk.
Mary, thank you for stopping by my blog. I am your newest follower. This trunk and everything in it epitomizes what my sisters and I (Panoply) love and are all about. I look forward to getting better acquainted through your blog. Cheers!
Rita
Rita, it is an honor to have you visit. I greatly admire your work. Thank you for your sweet words. And yes, we wll be keeping in touch.
Love old trunks like that and wish I could make doilies with that amount of craftmanship……Thank you for sharing with us at #JoyHopeLive!
This one is very special indeed Mary, because of its’ lovely contents.
Mary, what a transformation on your trunk and what a lovely tribute to your Mother! Thank you for sharing with us @Vintage Charm!
Cecilia, I did not know where I would end up with this one till I started it and got about halfwaythrough. Tthen it hit me that it had to be about my mother.
What a gorgeous makeover for that old trunk! I’d love to see a full photo of the trunk with it’s new look. I pinned it to my “Spotted at the VIP board here – https://www.pinterest.com/knickoftime/spotted-at-the-vip-vintage-decor-repurposed-projec/
Angie it’s good to have you visit. Thanks for the Pin. I think I have a picture further up. Maybe I’ll take some more. I really wanted to show the details of the old look.
I really like your Mother’s crochet pieces and the trunk looks great
Thanks so much Janice. It needed a makeover desparately It was hiding in plain site before.
Μαίρη μου ,τι θησαυρός είναι αυτός ??? Το μπαούλο έγινε καταπληκτικό ,οι δε χειροποίητοι θησαυροί της μαμάς σου είναι ονειρεμένοι !! Θα χαίρεται η μανούλα σου που τα χρησιμοποιείς και τα αναδεικνύεις !
Ολυμπία μου, μακάρι να την είχα κοντά μου και ας μην τα είχα τα χειροποίητα. Την έχασα πολυ νέα. Αλλά τουλάχιστον έχω τις αναμνήσεις Να σε καλά με τα ωραία σου λόγια..
Mary this is beautiful!. I love old trunks and I really like what you did with it. It really suits it. And I especially love the treasures in your trunk! Thank you so much for leaving a lovely comment on my blog. Blessings, Diane
Thanks so much Diane. The old paper suits it perfectly and the varnish gave it a little more old age feel.
I absolutely love what you did with the trunk. I have a similar type of trunk – but never thought to do anything so creative with it!
Well I hope I’ve inspired you. It is not hard at all, you just need time and some patience. I t hink once I set my mind to it, it all went very quickly. And I did not expect it to turn out so well.
Mary, great idea to give your trunk a little lift! Fabulous. I love to keep things that have a family history but might need just a little facelift to work in my current surroundings.
Have a great day,
Lynn
Thanks so much Lynne. Yes, we do want to keep things, but also need to adapt them to fit our homes. Exactly, now it looks so much better in the living room , instead of just a black blob
Your trunk transformation is clever. What a blessed way to keep your mother close to your heart.
Debbie, I just saw your trunk. Wow! I love how you glamed it up! I guess there is a time for old and a time for glam!!