My Dad's old wooden box. I'm guessing that he probably made this box from plywood, glue and screws sometime in the 1950's. Mom & Dad were married in 1944, and he passed away in 1961, when I was just a baby. Mom is gone now, too so I can't be sure of the actual date, but I know it's been around my entire life. It's one of the few items of my Dad's that I have.
When I asked my Hubs if I could bring it in from the garage to use inside the house, he said, "You do know it's
not pretty, right?", I just smiled, and told him I would give it a makeover.
Here was the inspiration for pulling the box out of the garage:
This box held some sentimental value for me because Dad built it with his own hands, so I wanted to be sure it didn't get too "girly". Dad was an auto mechanic, and a true outdoors man. He probably kept some of his tools in this box, because it was kinda smelly and greasy inside. Over the years, others had used this box, and then years ago, it somehow ended up in our garage with Hubs' stuff stored in it. It was usually on a shelf, forgotten.
Here it is as it's always been:
When I looked it over, I was surprised to see some childish scribbling on the top; I'm guessing it was from my sister and I when we were very small, probably using it as as "desk".
The box is made from 1/4-inch plywood, with a brass hasp and hinges.
Since I wanted a somewhat rustic look, I got started first by giving it a coat of chalk paint, and adding some "feet" from some scrap pieces of lumber:
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| Wood glue and clamps |
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| After three coats of chalk paint |
Although I love the distressed look of the one in
Edith & Evelyn Vintage's photo, I decided to give Dad's a little industrial flair, by adding some
corner brackets. I could have painted them black, but chose to match the color of the brackets on the
Factory Cart Coffee Table that I built, so I went with
Oil Rubbed Bronze paint.
Doesn't it look perfectly paired with that little
Factory Cart Coffee Table? Now I get to enjoy seeing Dad's box every day, in a whole new way! Maybe this style would be called, "shabby-chic-industrial"?
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