Chest for Fathers Day

by eDee · June 18, 2011

Well since my husband doesn’t read my blog I think it is safe to put this out here – so please don’t clue him in. I found this nice (structurally) large wooden chest at the thrift store. Now don’t ask me what he can do with it because I don’t have a clue. My guess is it will either end up in his office or more likely in the basement to be used to house something. Either way it is a project for me – and projects make me happy.

So here it is in all its glory with a horrid paint job. There are some deep nicks in its edges and the deep ones I filled with wood putty but the smaller ones I left as is – I wanted it to keep its character but not necessarily significant flaws. AND I definitely couldn’t hack the paint job. As soon as I grabbed it up, people were offering me money to let them buy it instead. They were just going to resell it as is and I wanted a better life for this chest. So, no – I kept it. Of course for the right price I would have easily given it up.

There are nice handles (forgot to take a picture of them) on the left and right sides. There is no front latch. The rear hinges had been painted over so I just re-painted over them.

It immediately got tricky. Like I said – I used wood putty for some spots. Then I primed it with Valspar primer – no sanding or stripping. Whatever they used for paint just bled right through the Valspar primer. I then went to the big gun primer – Kilz. Same problem so I put two coats of that. Still bled through – One more layer of Valspar (ran out of Kilz). Finally the primer was all I could see except a little bleed through of color on the top/left of the cover.

I really had no idea or plan what to do for this chest. So when all else fails I chose extra glossy black. No real reason other than I had it on hand and I know my husband doesn’t like the bright colors I have – pink, purple, neon green, or raspberry just aren’t colors he would choose.

It is so glossy black with no hardware that you can’t even see it’s features. I tried very hard to get a photo that shows detail but until I add the hardware – it seems this is what it is.

Next step – I bought some ornamentation to add to it at Home Depot. This is where the project starts to cost a bit. But since the chest only cost me $2.50 I figure it is still an awesome gift for my husband. His favorite color combination is black and orange – no surprise to anyone who knows him. I primed the ornamentation and spray painted it orange.

Then I glued them to the sides, front, back and the large one is for the most prominent – top. I then purchased a clasp for the cover. I wasn’t impressed with anything I could find so this is the one thing I felt I had to settle on. If I can find something better later – even if I have to buy a cheap piece of furniture to get it I will – but that will take time and I don’t have a great deal of that right now. I do have the patience to change it later.

So this is the finished chest (06/07/11) and I need to hide it til Fathers’ Day – hmmm. I will probably move it from the garage to my craft room – that room is too girly – he has only step foot in there once. Works for me.

The front: