Remember the box I picked up while garage saling recently?

I’m not sure what this box was originally intended for.  It definitely looks homemade, so I assume it was made to hold something specific but it was empty when I purchased it.

I know the wood grain looks pretty in that ‘before’ photo, but it was damaged on the top of the box.  But honestly, even if it hadn’t been damaged I still would have painted it.  Painted boxes sell for me, wood boxes don’t.

I started with the inside of the box by painting it with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  I then applied one of I.O.D.’s paint inlays into the 2nd wet coat of the Drop Cloth (you can find full instructions for applying the paint inlays here).

Isn’t that pretty?  That is from the new I.O.D. Floriography paint inlay.  You’re going to see a bit of that one in upcoming projects because I absolutely love it.  Now, do I wish it was a transfer rather than a paint inlay?  You betcha.  If only.

When I ordered the Floriography inlay and a couple of other I.O.D. items from The Painted Heirloom recently, I needed to spend $5 more to get free shipping.  So I decided to add a sample size packet of Sweet Pickins Milk Paint for just $7.

I chose a coral/pink color called Corabelle.

I have to admit, this color totally reminds me of Calamine lotion, and thus a really bad case of poison ivy that I had when I was younger.  Nonetheless, I think it’s a very pretty color.

I mixed up just half of the sample (half powder to half water) and it was plenty for two coats on the outside of this box.

I wanted to try a technique that I’ve seen Yvonne on Ginger Chick Rehab (on YouTube) use to get a lot of crackling with milk paint.  Basically you spray seal your piece first with some kind of sealer.  I believe Yvonne typically uses a spray shellac, but I used the Rust-Oleum matte clear spray on my box.  Next you brush on your milk paint and then add heat to dry it.  I used an old hair dryer for that (I think Yvonne uses a heat gun).  I’m not sure if you really have to add heat to both coats of paint, you may be able to get away with just heating the final coat, but I did both just in case.

It worked beautifully.

See that crackle?

Once dry, I sanded lightly to distress the edges and remove any loose chippy paint.  There wasn’t much, but a little here and there.  Then, and this is important if you’re going to add transfers, I gave it another coat of the matte spray sealer.  That makes sure that your paint is sealed in place and won’t lift up with the transfer.

As you can see, I went back to the I.O.D. Rose Botanical transfer for the florals and my old standby Label Ephemera for the typography on this box (yes, sadly, Label Ephemera has been retired for some time now and is difficult to come by).

I think it’s a little difficult to tell the size of this box by looking at these photos, but it’s 16.25″ wide, 8.5″ deep and 6″ tall so you could fill it up with all sorts of different things!

This box is for sale locally so be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.