My name is Daena and I can't stop buying boxes.

I have a thing for old wooden boxes and I have stacks of them around the house. And this "thing" extends to old trunks, big old trunks, of which I have way too many stacked in the barn. I'm thinking it's time to give these trunks some attention. They can be a lot of fun and I have a lot of ideas rattling around in my head.

Here's some of the raw material waiting for me:

I happened to drive by a yard sale and saw this from the car. I'm using this chest for out-of-season clothes, so who knows when it will get painted. "Never" would be a good guess.

This trunk came from a thrift shop on the Oregon Coast. It's huge and was a real challenge to stuff into the truck. I'm excited about my idea for this trunk. Maybe I'll get to it this summer.

This is one of those "Where in the world did I get that?" tool boxes. Maybe I'll remember some day. Meanwhile it sits by the garage door, all rustic perfection and attitude.

 We brought this bad boy home from Washington state, along with a zillion other rusty things. It has amazing hardware. My plan is to shellac the entire thing and make it an outdoor bench or maybe it'll be The Big Rusty Thing on the Patio. Mr. Bad Rabbit is thrilled. har.

And here are some completed trunks.

The Old Sign Trunk 

I acquired this old wooden trunk from somewhere...... I don't  remember where it came from. (The continuing theme. I don't remember where they came from!) I really took on a lot when I decided to pull off the canvas and restore the wood. I had no clue. No clue at all.

I didn't think I'd ever sell this, I was keeping it for myself. I had 300 years of work into it just removing canvas. But the day came ..... and the trunk now lives in L.A

 

The Circus Trunk

I have no 'before' shot but I think we've all seen this type of unfinished trunk at the craft stores.

I painted it for myself and it was my Circus Box. Until it was pushed out the door by more furniture. It didn't go to the barn though. The Circus Box is in upstate New York.

The Railroad Trunk 

Again, I have no idea where this box came from. Very frustrating! It was an Ugly Duckling but I saw potential. Or maybe I just saw an old wood box and had to have it.

It became a Railroad Trunk and I want to do more railroad trunks.

I did a simple stencil on the trunk and we used it as an end table until more end tables crowded it out and it was put in the barn.
And sorta forgotten about.

A few weeks ago we brought it up from the barn and put casters on it and we put it in my booth. It was gone in a matter of days.

Railroad trunk #2

So I felt inspired; my railroad idea wasn't a bad one and I did another trunk. This one is totally different, like night and day. Again, I've had the box for a few years and again it sat down in the barn when it got removed from the house. It was in my work room until I realized my
work room wasn't functioning.

But, hey! I remember where I got it! At our yearly entire-town garage sale.

There it is on the bottom. It was bare wood, I painted and glazed it, and put fabric in it. In about 2 minutes I was tired of moving the upper boxes every time I needed fabric. Do people REALLY store things this way?
Buh-bye Stack of Boxes.
(My 22 box is in the garage hoping to be let back into the house.)

 

The new railroad box.

 Check out the moss. You can tell we live on the north side of a mountain.

 I used inkjet print-outs and good old ModPodge to do the graphics. I think it would have been faster just to hand-paint but I didn't feel like painting a train. Lazy. :-)

Inspiration strikes!
I realized I had no pictures of the back or the right side. When I went to set up my tripod again I happened to notice the reflection .

Be still, my heart. Old mirrors. My new obsession.

 Fun, fun, fun! I think I took 34 pictures in the mirrors.

 I'm loving the patina from my ancient mirror!

Today, after horse chores, I'm going to explore this mirror concept some more. Maybe with one of my rocking horses.

Safety first.
The casters I used had quite a long bolt attached and they protruded into the trunk quite a bit. I was afraid of someone getting scratched so I went to the hardware store to see what my options were. I found packages of door-stop tips. Perfect! They come 4 styles to a pack but there are only 2 each, so I bought 2 packs. They fit over the bolt perfectly. 

I know, I know, the bolts could have been cut. However, we're talking ME here and I don't have a clue how to do that, so door-stop tips it is.

Ready to go to a new home!

Before I go, I have to show you this:

I ran across this quiz this morning. See? I'm a CASUAL collector not a PROBLEM collector. No need for a 12 step program here. No sirree. Bwah ha ha ha.

If you want to take the quiz, it's right here:
what_is_your_natural_collection_style

No cheating!

Linking up with:
funky junk interiors
nifty thrifty things
pjh designs
the dedicated house
savvy southern style
primp
a stroll thru life
miss mustard seed
shabby nest
french country cottage
redoux
coastal charm