Thrift Store Cedar Chest - Refinished

Remember the thrift store bargain I bought last month? You can check it out here.

I made the kids haul the chest outside for an after picture so I could fiddle with Picasa and try a split view photo. I have a renewed respect for those types of pictures now. Ug. Leaving this one as is until I have more time to play with it.

Here's the re-do. =]

One  half used can of Jasco and my very favorite gloves.....

I applied the Jasco with a cheapie brush.Wear shoes if you try this. You'll thank me for these words of wisdom. Glops of stripper between your toes and on the bottoms of your feet are not fun. No, I didn't go in the house and put shoes on after I burned my toes the first time. I'm tough...or something like that.

I waited two minutes before removing. It didn't work so hot. Wait 10 minutes. Really. The can knows what works best. Then remove with a putty knife. This is when you are going to wish you spent $3 and bought a new pair of favorite gloves, because all those splits in the rubber mean that goop is now burning fingers...

With a damp rag, wipe off the excess goop and sand....

Remember that broken base? Oh, how I wanted to rip the whole bottom off and replace the base with some round, ball type wooden feet. Then I priced them and realized I really didn't want to spend $50 on my bargain chest right now and decided to fix it instead.

I traced out the broken section and use a scroll saw to cut a new piece out of some scrap oak I had in the garage. Bargain girl strikes again.

The new wood isn't as thick as the original, but the difference is only visible from underneath. Both pieces of wood were predrilled before they were glued and screwed together. 

OK...I'll confess. I didn't drill the holes quite big enough for the screws, so when I put it together, the darn thing was a pain and shifted a bit. I left it. I know. Bad.

What am I doing here? Removing color #1. Yes, I tested it first. Yes, it was perfect. Yes, it looked awful on a larger piece. I used Minwax Polyshades, a stain and polyurethane in one. I used it to redo my kitchen cupboards a few years ago. They turned out blotchy and uneven. I almost cried.

I decided I'm better now and this miracle all-in-one would work this time. I was wrong. It's STILL a pain to work with. Do yourself a favor and don't bother with the stuff. I will never use it again.

This is the point where my camera broke and you're going to miss out on a bunch of exciting picture possibilities.

Like Putting on Stain. You do this across the grain. Who knew.
And Wiping off Stain. You do this with the grain.
And Painting on Verathane. It goes on milky white and dries clear.
See? Exciting stuff!

The trunk in its new home....and for the record, it really does look much better in person.

Ugly Duckling Cedar Chest

I found a treasure chest at my favorite thrift store. It was a poor, homely, wobbly, crayoned chest sitting forlornly by the door as we were leaving. It was ugly. Really. I almost didn’t look at it twice. The finish was a white washed, peeling oak. The back of the base was broken off on the right side so it tipped drunkenly if you sat on it. It looked kind of…ugg…outdated. Not my style at all. But it was a Lane, so I looked anyway.

Then…drumroll…we opened it up. Inside was the most beautiful, pristine cedar. It was in mint condition, with original tags and all. October 1954.  The chest was 57 years old and in amazingly good shape despite the cosmetic mess. I bit the bullet and plunked down $38, called my sister and begged for her truck, then carted that baby home.

Please ignore the messy porch. This is my high tech workspace.

Lovely, eh? Filthy, scribbled, gouged, and I think that spot in the middle is a burn mark.

I actually fell in love with this little scribble. My oldest child's name starts with the letter "B", and I still remember finding those first scrawled attempts of name writing on walls and, ahem...dressers. It kind of made this chest belong to us in a way. Know what I mean? I could just picture a little boy standing there with his pen and smiling at his perfect "B". Amazing how a few years distance makes those things sweet!

 This is the broken base. Simple and fixable, but enough of an issue to scare away some would be buyers at the thrift store. Lucky me.

Here you can see just how nicely the inside was preserved. With the exception of the deteriorated green tray, the rest was beautiful. 

I showed my find to my mother-in-law, who, can you believe it, used to own the 1953 version of the exact same trunk. I believe she got it as a high school graduation present. I felt a little bad about calling it butt ugly before showing it to her. Sigh. One day I'll learn.

Hang in for the transformation from Ugly Duckling to Beautiful Swan. It was fun, relatively simple, inexpensive, a learning experience, and well worth the effort.