I’m pretty flush with toolboxes these days.  I have several friends who have been snatching them up for me, which is always appreciated.  Especially if those friends know how to discern a good vintage toolbox from a not so good one.

I’m drawn to unique shapes, good handles, and weight.  You can almost always judge age by weight.  The older toolboxes are heavier and constructed out of thicker steel (hmmm, I feel like this applies to me as well).  I’m not as big a fan of newer toolboxes (although that being said, you are going to see one of those newer varieties from me next week).

For today, I’m working with this one.

Not super exciting with its black plastic handle, but I do like its shape.  It’s heavy duty, and it has a good tray inside.  I like the trays that don’t have any dividers meant for a set of sockets.

I prep all of my toolboxes in the same way.  I wash them out in the yard with the garden hose and some Dawn dish soap (you need a good grease cutting cleanser).  Once dry I may sand them if they have chipping paint or a lot of lumpy spots.  Then I give them a coat of Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S. to block any potential stains from bleeding through my paint.

Actually, the photo above shows this toolbox after all of that prep.  As you can sort of see, the B.O.S.S. does look a bit filmy.  This product is always meant to be painted over, never left as a final coat.

Next up I painted the tray and the interior of the box in Dixie Belle’s English Ivy, and the outside of the box in their Sawmill Gravy.

Then I went through my stash of transfers.  I’m really trying to work on using up transfers that I’ve had for too long.  As I’ve mentioned before, transfers lose their stickiness over time, so you really can’t hang onto them for years.

I ended up pulling out an old re.design with prima transfer called Violet Hill.

I have to confess, this is not one of my favorites.  I’m drawn to warmer shades of pink, and the florals in this one are in cooler shades leaning towards violet (hence the name).  I have used snippets of it in the past.  First on a cast off hankie drawer …

and then on a pair of ice skates.

But I had enough of this transfer left to use on a toolbox, so I decided to go for it.  Even though these aren’t my favorite colors, I know there are those of you who love them.

I thought these darker florals would be more appropriate for the season too, they aren’t quite as summery looking as others that I use.

I added some of the Violet Hill transfer to the tray as well.

I pulled out another of the old prima transfers that Monica sent to me to add some French wording to the top of the toolbox …

as well as to the side of the tray.

By the way, isn’t that vintage velvet ribbon gorgeous?

It was the perfect color to work with the colors in that Violet Hill transfer.

I purchased that ribbon years ago at a garage sale and although I pull it out occasionally to stage a photo …

I haven’t come up with a permanent use for it yet, but one of these days I will.  In the meantime, I’ll just keep using it as a photo prop.

As for the Violet Hill toolbox, it is for sale locally.  So if any of you locals love these colors, and could use a fab vintage toolbox, be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.