HOPE CHEST TRANSFORMATION

I'm so excited to finally be finished with Lea's new hope chest. I'm a "trash to treasure" type of gal and when I saw this sitting in front of my neighbor's house on the sidewalk waiting for the trashman, I knew I had to rescue it!

I thought of transforming it into a toy chest for Lea and then thought of making it a hope chest instead. I love this idea so much more. I plan to fill it with mementos from Lea's birth on up. It will be fun to add special things like her favorite blanket, stuffed animal, homemade cards, etc.

I started the process by cleaning it first. It had a lot of dust, dirt, and lovely spider eggs underneath it ready to hatch any minute!! GROSS!!! I sprayed it down with the hose which knocked all that off. The hinges were shot so I took those off.

It was in pretty good shape, but I wanted to make a change. I thought the two pieces of wood strips going down the center of the chest didn't do much for the piece and dated it. I decided to remove the wood strips and use that place to stencil something or find an appliqué.

Now it was time to fill some minor cracks and areas seperating.  I used just a basic wood filler I found at Lowe's. This stuff works great and so easy to use. I just apply the stuff with my finger. It hardens up after 20 minutes or so and it's then ready to sand down.

After sanding the piece with my handheld sander, I thought I better prime it using the stuff below.  I didn't want to take any chances with the blue showing through and affecting the color. I used a foam roller for priming and painting as well and a small brush. The foam roller gives a nice, semi smooth surface. Will just depend on how smooth your piece is. Using a roller speeds the painting process up and you don't have to worry so much about brushstrokes.

As I mentioned earlier, I removed the old, beat up hinges and replaced them with these Rockler soft close hinges I had read about. A little pricey for these, but found them to be worth it. They were super easy to screw on and fit perfectly! Also, I sanded the inside with a little steel wool. This helps raise the cedar oils to the surface and revive the wood.

Now all pretty and primed, I was ready to start painting. It took me awhile to decide on the color. I knew I wanted to put it in Lea's room and I thought a pink would be pretty to bring in a pop of color. I've been using Benjamin Moore on most of my painted pieces now for years. For me, if I find something I like, I stick with it. I can count on BM to give me nice coverage. It's long lasting and can withstand being beat up a little bit. I've never had to apply any top coat. 

So here she is! I went with Vibrant Blush and absolutely LOVE it! I added an appliqué I found here on Etsy to give it a shabby chic feel. I adore how it turned out. I just love the idea of a Hope Chest. Something we can fill together in the years to come. 

The pink really ties in nicely with what I already had going on and definitely adds the pop of color that I was looking for. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out Lea's Hope Chest transformation. Do you have a hope chest or now thinking about creating one? Tell me about it. Love to hear from you!

KEEP IT COZY,

ALLISON