Old Buffet to New Coffee Station

This one is for mom.

See this old buffet?  Let me explain why it’s topless.

My mother had this piece with the china cabinet that sat on top for years.  It was finally time to get rid of the top and just use the buffet as a server.  But when the china cabinet came off, so did the top.  She had already asked me to paint it for her so now it was a matter of replacing the top.

No Junk in This Trunk

When I was asked to makeover this trunk, I eagerly accepted the task.  It’s something a little different.  We had discussed a few options for the end result such as coffee table, casters on the bottom, etc, but she needs this specifically for storage so the inside had to be accessible.

Blue and Shiny… (*sigh*…I hate shiny)

CONTINUED... (click link below)

Union Trunk & Luggage Company had some tough stickers I tell ya.

The inside needs some work as well.

After the initial prep work I primed the entire trunk. I used Rustoleum grey primer making sure it was good to use on painted metal. I even liked the way it looked just primed.

My client wanted a old metal look for the trunk, so I decided on Tremclad’s Hammered Paints. I LOVED the look of this paint.

As I hadn’t used this hammered finish before I made sure to give it a try on a scrap piece of wood. I tried it on the wood without primer and again with the primer underneath to make sure I knew just how it would look.

When I was sure I knew just how to apply this finish I got to work on the secondary prep work

then started with the bronze color. In order to get the pitted/hammered metal look you need to apply a thicker coat.  Just be careful on the vertical bits.

Ok.. back to the interior.  These metal trunks are plywood construction covered by … something ? I think its some sort of very thick paper or very stiff fabric. Honestly.. I don’t know. Either way, it wasn’t coming off.

I thought about wallpapering the inside, but I was afraid in the long term that adhesive would dry up and start to peel off of  “whateveritis” on this interior.  The inside was also very lumpy due to the plywood underneath, so I decided to clean it all up with what else?… paint.  Papering the inside bottom and lid with a vintage map paper added a decorative touch.

It’s so clean and fresh now, you could store just about anything in it.

 

 

It’s very hard to capture the hammered look of this paint, but you can see a bit of it here.

I think it cleaned up pretty nice.  And now it's something you can actually put in a family room.

Thanks for reading