I love the term upcycling. Recycling always makes me think of bottles, cans and old newspapers. With upcycling you take something and bring it back to its original self or transform it into something completely different. That is exactly what I did to an old trunk I purchased at a garage sale.
I really liked the bones of the trunk, but the army green was not for me.
I purchased this Annie Sloan book awhile ago. It is full of great ideas, some of which I used on this project.
The book shows how to work specifically with Annie Sloan Paint.
It even has a color wheel for all Annie Sloan Paint. It shows you what to mix to make another color and also what the complementary colors would be.
I decided to use Annie Sloan Chicago Grey as a base coat. You don’t have to do a base coat, but I plan on layering color and did not want any of the army green to show through after distressing.
As always with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint you can use it on anything with no prep!
What a difference just lightening it up makes!
The first layer was Annie Sloan Antibes Green. I know it is bright, but remember I’m layering.
Look how the hardware pops.
For the second layer I pulled inspiration from the fabric I plan to use in the Master Bedroom.
I combined Annie Sloan Antibes Green and Napoleonic Blue.
The color turned a deep teal which compliments the soft greenish- blue color I chose for the bedroom walls.
After painting the entire trunk I added clear wax and dark wax to give the piece depth and the look of age. I tried a technique I learned in Annie Sloan’s book, Color Recipes for Painted Furniture. In the book it says you can apply wax before the paint dries, allowing the waxes to drag the paint more easily and give it texture at the same time. It worked beautifully!
This is the finished piece. I still want to add feet for height.
I love this color and it looks great with the patina on the hardware!
The only thing I did to the hardware was clean it up a with a wet cloth.
These are the feet I purchased at Lowes.
I wanted to get a color that would go well with the hardware. I mixed three colors together, Minmax Gunstock, Dark Walnut and Classic Gray stains.
They really look like they have been around awhile..
Once the stain was dry I put on a coat of Varathane matte water based polyurethane.
I could not be happier with the outcome! The color, the hardware and feet all came together so well!
This will be great for extra storage in the bedroom!
Lets here it for upcycling!!