Old Trunk as Coffee Table
I posted a while ago about the fact that I was cleaning some old trunks to use as furniture. Here’s the big trunk being used as my coffee table; it contains what used to be kept in my “miscellaneous tools” and “art supplies” bins, with a ton of room to spare. When I move next I’ll be able to drop lots more stuff into it and let the movers haul it off on a dolly.
I didn’t do a lot to it. I ripped out the slightly mildewed fabric inside, wet down the interior pine, and scraped out the old glue. I washed the external painted canvas and leather, used tung oil on the wooden slats, and decoupaged flat the old railway stickers that were peeling off the canvas. I also repainted the black metal band around the top of the chest. The hardest part was cleaning off the metal hasps and clasps. I de-rusted them with Naval Jelly several times and scrubbed them with a wire brush and steel wool. I tested some brass-colored paint on them, hated it, and scraped it off again. The metalwork is pitted and dull, but I’m just leaving it as it is for now. It could probably use more work, but I’m content with it for the time being.
The trunk makes a good coffee table and is the right height for me to put my portable DVD player on it and lounge on the sofa while I watch. In the background you’ll see an antique wooden Amberg filing cabinet a friend gave to me that I use as an incidental table. On top of it is a 1947 wooden 7-Up case from my grandmother’s house filled with crosses I’ve collected on my travels and a stack of Native American and African baskets I inherited from my mother. Behind it are a sword, two walking sticks, and a riding crop, all collected or given to me over time. The stick thing on the floor on the other side is an old spindle with a carved St. George and dragon on top; very cool, but I’m not sure what to do with it.
The shadow box is an old type case my mother bought in Missouri, full of fetishes and Roman coins and antique keys and other curios I’ve collected. The small cases around it are mostly contemporary reproductions that hold my portable DVD player setup, lightbulbs and batteries, although the suitcase under the shadow box is a real piece of old luggage.
Elsewhere in the room is an old Asian apothecary’s chest and Artifact. I guess you’d call this kind of decor “eclectic.” It wasn’t planned, although I’ve started to work with it — for example, cleaning up an old trunk made more decorating sense than buying a contemporary iron and glass coffee table. A lot of the stuff is kind of useless, but it counts as “love it” in the simplifier’s “only keep it if you use it, need it, or love it” formula.
drupagliassotti @ June 29, 2008