Scavenger Chic

Battered and Bedraggled Trunk Coffee Table

• By Joan
• February 13, 2019
• 9 Comments

I can’t resist a good piece of furniture in need of some lovin’ and this trunk was no exception.  He was rusty , he was peeling, he had a hole where he shouldn’t have a hole and he was beautiful.

Hey, if I could give a termite eaten trunk a new life then this one would be a piece of cake.

He did have quite a few problems, but that was just surface stuff.

On the outside, I only needed to trim away the loose paper, running a blade along all the edges.

On the inside he had even more loose paper.  Anything that’s loose, peel it off.

Something tells me this trunk was stored someplace rather damp. It’s just a hunch. 😆 

For any paper that doesn’t peel off, take a really wet rag and let it soak until the water has penetrated the paper.

Just scrape away.  That paper that looks a little drier will have to soak a little more.

Amazing difference.  Any extra glue or little bits of paper are easily sanded off at this point.

Take a wire brush or sander to all the metal trim getting as much of the chunky rust off as possible.

I don’t know if you noticed the big ol’ hole in the front of the trunk where one of the clasps had been (the left side).  I patched it with a similar piece of metal that was used on the right just without the keyhole.

For little bun feet, I’m using half of my old deck finials.  I only had 3 on hand so I had to buy one more.  They haven’t changed much in the 30 years since my deck was installed. The newer one is in the natural wood.  Disregard that x’ed out ball, I used the bottom half of that finial on a twin headboard.

Where the arrow is pointing is where you would want to make your cut.  I’m saving the little round tops which could also be used as feet for another project.

I also used the top ball of a wood finial on my car jack horse project and full finials as feet for a chicken coop coffee table.

A new finial is currently selling for $3.97.  Not too bad since I can get two feet out of the one piece.

If you’d rather get wooden pieces  designed to be feet you’ll pay quite a bit more and those prices don’t  include the  top plate for mounting.

To get the foot to sit level I inserted a slat of wood underneath half of each foot then temporarily glued everything in place.

Once the glue was set, I turned the trunk right side up then used screws to attach the feet from the inside.

Painted with white chalk paint.

Since chalk paint can be used as a primer, I experimented to see if the chalk paint would cover up the rusty trim.  From my scientific experiment I can officially say it doesn’t, it bleeds right thru.

Back to the workshop where I found a can of white rustoleum primer. Sprayed on just the rusty spots and voila, no more bleeding rust.  This concludes my science experiment…chalk paint doesn’t cover up rust, rustoleum primer does.

If you like the slightly worn, I scraped my feet all over the edge look,  then attack your finished project with a sander.

Use clear wax to seal the chalk paint.

I modpodged the bottom with my grandmother’s old piano sheet music.

Don’t you just love a good before and after?

Until next time, stay inspired.

Shared at Between Naps on the Porch,

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