The quickies have been few and far between lately (I’m referring to quick projects here people, get your minds out of the gutter). I’ve been doing a lot of BIG projects instead. Making over a whole room, painting large pieces of furniture, etc. But while I was waiting for a dresser to dry the other day, I decided to tackle (pardon the pun, you’ll get it in a minute) painting some metal boxes (tackle boxes, get it?) that I picked up last summer at a garage sale.
I am a big fan of old shabby metal containers of any kind, and I bet many of you are as well. There are some great ones out there. Then again, there are some that really aren’t all that fabulous. The color is a bit blah, as it was on these two.
But instead of passing these by when I saw them, I decided to nab them and then see if I could fab them up a bit.
I had recently picked up a sample pot of Cece Caldwell’s chalk paint in Sante Fe Turquoise. It’s a fairly bright turquoise. I don’t think I would be inclined to use it on a piece of furniture, but it was the perfect color for a small metal box. So, I painted the smaller one with it. Here it is once the paint was dry, but before I distressed and waxed it.
Of course, you can’t leave it like this! I sanded it, then waxed it with clear wax. Then I added a little dark aging wax to some areas for a little more age. Finally, I added a couple of Tim Holtz rub-on’s.
I painted the larger box using Annie Sloan’s Florence, and then gave it the same treatment with wax and rub-on’s.
Et voila!
Now I have the most fabulous vintage metal boxes!
Aren’t the colors divine?
Did you see my lucky number, by the way? While cleaning out my craft room for its makeover, I came across a stash of vintage tickets that all have a ’22’ on them. I purchased them at Oronoco Gold Rush a couple of years ago. The vendor selling them had boxes and boxes of ticket stubs, all sorted by number! I can’t imagine how long it took her to sort them. I’m glad I found them, I’ll use them on my scrapbook page with all the photos of my lucky number from my Danube trip.
But maybe I’ll save one or two for future photo shoots.
Got any old metal boxes you can dig out and slap some paint on? It’s a super fast and easy project for a winter afternoon. Give it a try!
Love them both! They really look good displayed together.
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Thanks Cheryl! I have to tell you, I didn’t keep them together. I gave the smaller one to my friend Terri for her birthday today. Maybe I should suggest to her that she should have both of them 😉
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At first I thought “oh no they’re cool in there own way.” Buuutt you made them much cooler. Great colour!
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They were ‘almost cool’ on their own .. they just didn’t quite get there in their original colors. I do like to leave an original finish as much as possible, but these guys just weren’t working for me as is.
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Tell Terri Happy Birthday for me! I know she loves this gift. I am more than impressed that you parted with it. I have always been fond of metal boxes these really benefitted from some Quandie-love and the colors you used are great. Love the rub ons. And love the bit of distressing and the wax job.
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Do you do anything special to the inside to spruce it up? Sometimes they are awfully grimy even after cleaning.
Love your projects.
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If they are really icky inside, then I wash them with Dawn dish soap to cut the grease, sand them down a little and paint them. If they are just a little dirty, I wash them and then sometimes add a paper liner like I did with this one. Also, note, if you paint over rust, eventually that rust will come back through your paint. I’m OK with that, because I like a little rust. But if you don’t want that then you have to sand off the rust and use a rust inhibiting primer before painting.
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