An Antique Steamer Trunk...

Have you ever seen a picture of something and you just had to have it?

It doesn't happen to me often, I'm usually a thinker and ponder'er - I'll give things a few days to sink in,  to see if it's really something I want. Once in a while however, I just can't restrain myself...

Case in point, this Antique Steamer Trunk...

I don't know if it was the details, or the color... 

I don't know if it was the patina, or the real wood showing through that reeled me in & made me want...

I'm not sure what it was about the picture, but I jumped out of my chair, grabbed my wallet and rushed to town to buy this great big beauty. 

And she is 'BIG'~!

I do know, it wasn't the pink wallpaper with blue fish that attracted me ~

It's just crazy what happens on the 'inside' of things sometimes...

The shop owner & I slid it into my truck and well, on the way home, no matter how slow I drove, that rotted canvas top decided to really start peeling. I already planned on removing it anyway, so Mother Nature gave me a helping hand in that respect.

I used a small razor knife and carefully severed the canvas from the leather, around the top and merely peeled it off. Even the underlying glue layer was so deteriorated that it just scraped off with a plastic putty knife and a good soaking of water.

When the top was clean and dry, I waxed it with a good quality furniture wax and buffed it to a semi-gloss shine. You can't even tell that there has been any alteration. Although, anybody familiar with canvas covered steamer trunks would know the top had been removed.

I used a ratio of 3:1 water to downy fabric softener and really soaked the interior of the trunk to get the old pink and blue fish wallpaper to release, so I could remove it. It was in decrepit shape and didn't add anything to the trunks charm.

The underlying cloth, plaid, original layer of fabric pulled off with the wallpaper which was no worry to me. There was beautiful cedar underneath all the ruckus and once the old fabric came off, the smell of cedar filled the kitchen. Well, and downy fabric softener, of course...

Ignore the yellow pic - I was working on it late in the evening under fluorescent light...

Honestly, I didn't do anything with the main body of the trunk but sweep it off. 

I was scared if I played too much, the canvas would start to peel. The patina on this old trunk is what made me fall in love. Doing anything to disturb it, would have made me cry...

I hope to use this old beauty in the large upstairs bedroom, at the foot of my other carved bed, when the staircase renovation gets completed.

But, until we have stairs, she's residing in the kitchen - next to the kitchen entry door, while the 'Shredded Wheat Crate Table" takes a vacation.

She's great storage and she's just beautiful to look at...

She just adds a nice, old, touch to the kitchen entryway.

Really... 

Who "hasn't" thought of adding an old steamer trunk to their kitchen decor???

Have a 'Beautiful Day Today'~!