Hope Chest

When I graduated from high school back in 1981, Lane Furniture would give away these little miniature cedar chest to any graduating senior girl.   Of course they were hoping that while you were picking up your miniature, you would also look around and buy a big cedar chest!   We fell right in with the plan and my parents gifted me this cedar chest for graduation.   It was my "Hope Chest" to put things in for when I set up a house of my own.

It is looking a little rough here because it has been 33 years since graduation, and this little cedar chest has made 20 moves with me, twice overseas.  I gave the chest to my oldest daughter when my parents gave me an heirloom chest several years ago.

Somehow, the top got broken and my husband had to put it back together. Since then it has been sitting downstairs in his workshop getting dusty, and providing a great place to pile stuff on top of.   It was looking pretty rough.

With my new interest in renovating furniture, I started eyeing that chest to be my new coffee table.  I texted my daughter with my great idea, and she very mournfully told me how much she loved the chest, but hadn't wanted to push her Daddy into completing the project.   Bottom line....she very nicely told me that she didn't want it to be my new coffee table.   I guess I had told her back when she was younger that she couldn't paint it....but I have now changed my mind :).   I asked her what color she wanted it, and she said "Tiffany Blue."  

Not being a girly, girl...I had to google that color to see what it looked like.   I decided to paint it for her and refinish the top.  I bought the paint at Lowes.  It is Roth and Allen's "Day at the Jewelers."   I am honestly not crazy about the color...but I am not a big fan of pastels anyway.  What is most important is that my daughter likes it....or so I keep telling myself.  

I refinished the top to be like an old distressed piece of wood in antique walnut.  When I first painted the chest, I felt like the color looked like a child's toy box, so I took some of the walnut stain and wiped it on to give it an older, more subdued look.   In my opinion there is a fine line between "stained/distressed" and a bad paint job.   I can't tell which side of the line I am on. :).  

Today I decided to wax it in hopes that it would subdue the color even more.   When it didn't really do much, I tinted the wax with some black paint and waxed it all over, and then wiped it off.   After several hours, I buffed it. Here is the finished product....

My daughter says she loves it.   I like it better now that it is done..I don't think it will ever be my favorite color...but I will save that for my own chest.  I'm still not sure if I crossed that line of "distressed" to bad paint job....but as long as she is happy it's a wrap!  

Once again...

Before

After