Old Trunk Restoration

I picked this trunk up at a local auction for $10. It was ugly, dirty, scarred, ripped and filled with trash, but had obvious potential. Now it's my favorite piece of furniture in the whole house.

This is what I started with, it looks like someone put a good bit of care into it at some point. It was painted a nice chocolate brown, reinforced with good hinges and metal bands and covered with a faux leather material.

Then at some point it ended up in a mechanics shop where it was kicked, scraped, spilled on and just generally abused.






I started by removing the leather like material and tossing it. The foam underneath seemed salvageable so I put it in the wash a few times with a bit of bleach.

Next was lots and lots of sanding....

I left a distressed look to the wood but sanded down the splinters and deeper scrapes along with most of the old paint.

Then I applied a tinted polyurethane.

Put the now clean foam back on...

and stapled on a bright new fabric.

Before

After