Category: toolboxes.

It’s time for another toolbox.

I’m sure some of you are entirely tired of seeing so many toolboxes, but I just love doing them.  Plus, they are reasonably sized items that I can work on indoors when it’s 95° outside.

Also, I just keep finding plenty of them at garage/estate sales.  OpK and I stopped at an estate sale last week and I came home with three more!  Plus I had three that I found at a garage sale that my friend Sue gave me a heads up on already waiting in the wings.

So, yeah, the toolboxes aren’t going away any time soon.

With that being said, here is today’s toolbox.

As per usual, it was a bit rusty and quite filthy.  I gave it my usual prep;  cleaning, sanding down some rust, cleaning again, and then finally applying a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.

After allowing that to dry for 24 hours, I painted the interior of the box in Dixie Belle’s Secret Path.

I know I’ve said it before, but I think it bears repeating, I never thought I would love this color as much as I do.  I’ve never really been a purple girl, but this shade is so nice.  It’s not an in-your-face sort of purple.  Let’s just call it a classy purple.

In fact, I just ordered another jar of it because I’d used up the last of mine on this toolbox.

Before moving on, I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat to protect the interior of the toolbox.

I painted the outside of the toolbox in Dixie Belle’s Ecru.  Then I added some transfers from I.O.D.’s Primrose Isle collection.

The flowers in this one are just so pretty.

I do wish I.O.D. would provide just a bit more typography along with their florals though.

The Primrose Isle set has just a few bits and I could use more.

I do have butterflies coming out my ears though, and this one even has a grasshopper.

After I had all of the transfers in place, I finished off the outside of the toolbox with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Once again, this toolbox is for sale locally.  Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Despite the fact that Dixie Belle has over 20 shades of green paint in their line up, they don’t seem to have the perfect shade of avocado green that I am looking for.

Clearly Holy Guacamole is close.

But I wanted something just a little bit different for today’s toolbox makeover.

I also thought maybe Cactus would work, but that’s too grey.

Another possibility is Everglades, but that one is really too bright for me.

English Ivy is one of my favorite Dixie Belle greens,

but it wasn’t quite what I wanted for this particular project.

So, I decided it was time to play around with mixing my own shade of green.  I thought perhaps I could just tone down that Everglades a bit by mixing in some of Dixie Belle’s Acadia.

I just kept mixing until I had the color I wanted.

Bingo!

I’ve decided to call it Garden Green.

It really ended up being just a little less vibrant shade of Everglades.  So, FYI, if you purchased Everglades and then found it a bit too much just mix in a little Acadia or similar.

And here’s what I put it on.

This toolbox was already green, but kind of a dull sort of army green.  I wanted the color to be just a little bit brighter.

After my usual prep of cleaning, scuff sanding and priming with Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss, I painted it inside and out with my new shade of Garden Green.  Since I mixed this color using two shades from Dixie Belle’s Silk Paint line, I didn’t need to add a topcoat so I went straight in for adding some transfers.

I started with several of the white roses from the I.O.D. Rose Botanical set.

Once I had those placed, I added in a few little daisy type flowers (although maybe those are Feverfew rather than daisy) from the Wilde Bloemen set.

And actually, that white flower in the upper corner is from the Sarah Featon’s Botanicals set.  I seem to have pulled things from several different I.O.D. transfers, yet they all work together.

The typography section is from I.O.D.’s By Any Other Name transfer.

As is the transfer that I placed inside the lid.

So if you’re keeping track, yes I used four different transfers on this toolbox.  I certainly wouldn’t recommend buying 4 transfers just to complete one toolbox, but if you have bits and pieces of various transfers left over from previous projects it is nice to be able to combine them and have them still look cohesive.

Once all of the transfers were in place, I gave them a topcoat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to protect them.

I have to say, this is absolutely one of my favorite toolbox makeovers to date.  I think that shade of green is gorgeous.  How about you?  Are there any other green lovers out there?  Were you ready for a pop of color rather than my usual white?

Leave a comment and let me know.

If you’re local and in need of a toolbox in the perfect shade of Garden Green, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page!

You know what they say, when it rains, it pours.

It has been raining here a bit lately, but in this case I’m referring to toolboxes.

I seem to come home from every neighborhood garage sale with one or two toolboxes.  Plus my friend opK has found a couple of them for me.  And, my reader Vanessa has sent one up from Iowa (thanks again for that Vanessa!).

I hope that the market for upcycled toolboxes doesn’t dry up any time soon, because I have quite a few on hand to paint.

Here is where today’s toolbox started out …

It was pretty dirty, and starting to get a bit rusty.  So I gave it a good scrub, followed by sanding down some of the rust.  Then after letting a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss dry overnight, I painted it inside and out with their French Villa Silk Paint.

Once the paint was dry, I used my electric palm sander to distress it back quite a bit.  I wanted to bring back that worn look.

Once I’d wiped away any dust from my sanding, I started creating a design using the I.O.D. By Any Other Name transfers.

I began with all of the images that had white roses.

But ultimately I decided to add in a couple of pink roses on either end at the bottom to fill out the space.

I added a butterfly and a bee too.

Although the Dixie Belle Silk paint doesn’t require a topcoat, I gave the outside a coat of clear wax to protect the transfers.

With that, I have to get outside and clean up a bunch more toolboxes to prep them for paint so I’d better get at it!

This toolbox is for sale locally, you can find those details here.

Are you wondering whether or not I ever buy anything at my own occasional sale?

Well, if so, the answer is yes.  I do usually find one of two goodies that either Sue or opK bring to sell.

At my recent sale, I purchased two items.

First up, this fabulous planter.

I love the shape of it, the swag detail and most of all the patina.

I planted it up with some heuchera, coleus and a begonia.  It’s perfect in this shady spot in my front, north facing, garden.

I also purchased a metal box with a hinged lid.  Unfortunately I totally neglected to take a ‘before’ photo of it.  Darn.

But here is the ‘after’.

I’m tempted to call it a recipe box, because it is hinged like your typical metal recipe box.  But it’s about twice as tall.  It’s also made out of very heavy duty metal, it’s not flimsy.

Even the hinge seems quite substantial.

It seems like this box must have had a more industrial use, rather than just as a simple recipe box.

Regardless, I’ve given it a whole new look.  After giving it a good cleaning and a scuff sanding, I gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out.

Next I painted the inside in two coats of Dixie Belle’s Guacamole.

Once dry I sealed it with Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat.  After allowing that to dry thoroughly, I added a transfer from I.O.D.’s By Any Other Name set inside the lid.

I painted the outside in Dixie Belle’s Ecru, then after sanding to distress the edges, I applied various bits and pieces from the I.O.D. Primrose Isle transfer collection.

I wrapped the florals around each side.

These side views also show you how substantial the seams are on this box as well.

I finished off the box with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Now all that’s left is for someone to decide what to use it for.

If you’re someone who either sends a lot of greeting cards or receives and saves a lot of greeting cards, this box would be the perfect size for them.

I am not really one of those people though, so I only had flash cards to use for the photo shoot.  But you get the idea, right?

What would you use this box for?  Leave a comment and let me know.

If you are local and in need of a really cool, and substantial, box check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page!

Welcome back for the final installment of toolbox week!

I have a confession to make, this isn’t my favorite style of toolbox.

I’m not sure what it is, but somehow I just don’t love this shape where it’s deeper at the top than at the bottom.

I have done at least one like this in the past, and it turned out fine …

But I really struggled with this next one.

I started out painting it red on the outside and navy blue on the inside because I thought I’d do another Norwegian flag toolbox like this one.

But I just wasn’t loving it in the red.

So I painted over both the inside and outside with black.  I was thinking I’d do another one like this one …

But then I didn’t love that either.

So I painted over the inside yet again, this time in Dixie Belle’s Oxford Fog.

That’s such a pretty color.

Then I painted over the exterior in DB’s Drop Cloth.

I must admit, it felt a little boring at first.  But then I gave it a major distressing job using my mouse sander and some 150 grit paper.  That started bring it to life.

I followed that up with some really lovely florals from the I.O.D. Madeleine transfer.

And the bird is pretty gorgeous too.

The typography comes from an old re.design with prima transfer called Catalogue.  This one goes way, way back.  And actually, I didn’t buy this one, I’m pretty sure this is one that my reader Monica sent to me (correct me if I’m wrong on that Monica).

I rearranged the words a little, and I only had bits and pieces from the original full transfer, but it worked out perfectly.

In the end, I think this one turned out quite nice.

It might even be my favorite.

But then again …

Now it’s your chance to share your opinion.  Which of the five boxes I shared this week was your favorite?

The Les Fleurs lunchbox …

the Italian tacklebox …

the simple black toolbox …

the English wildflower toolbox …

or today’s architecture et arts décoratif toolbox?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Welcome back for day 4 of toolbox week.

Here is where today’s toolbox started out.

Not too terrible.  I rather liked the subdued shade of green, so I tried to copy it for the interior as you’ll see in a minute.

But first, yes, this one got the same prep as the others.  A good wash, slight scuff sanding and a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out.

Then I gave the inside a coat of Dixie Belle’s Highlands.

It’s not an exact match to that original color, but in the same neighborhood.

Next up I gave the outside a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I applied quite a few wildflower transfers from I.O.D.’s Primrose Isle set.

The detail on these is just lovely.

The flowers are so delicate looking.

The typography I used on top is from that same collection.

I’m afraid I don’t really know anything about the wild flowers of the British Isles, so I’m not sure if all of the flowers qualify.  But does anyone really notice that level of detail?

So far I think this might be my favorite toolbox of the week.  What do you think?

As with all of this week’s toolboxes, this one will be available at my upcoming occasional sale unless someone snatches it up ahead of time by checking out my ‘available for local sale‘ page.

Welcome to day 3 of toolbox week!

Today I’m keeping it simple.

This toolbox started out black …

and I’m keeping it black.

Full disclosure, I did prep this one along with all of the others before I’d really even thought about what color I would paint it.  So in the ‘before’ pic above it has a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear Bonding Boss on it (thus the filmy look).

Had I planned ahead I could have skipped that step on this one.  It didn’t have much rust and painting black over the original black would really only have required one coat of Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.  And actually, I think I could have even skipped painting it on the outside completely and just worked with that original distressed black finish.  However, either way, I would have wanted to paint the inside to clean it up.

But that’s water under the bridge.  Since I had already given it a coat of Bonding Boss, I went over that on the outside with just one coat of Midnight Sky.

Then, after giving it some thought, I decided to use Dixie Belle’s Silk Paint in Anchor on the inside.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I would specifically choose the chalk mineral paint for the outside and the Silk All-In-One mineral paint (an acrylic paint) on the inside.  So, let me explain.

In my experience, the chalk mineral paint distresses better than the acrylic (a.k.a. Silk) paint, and I definitely wanted to distress the outside.  I also find that the chalk style paint adheres to metal better than the acrylic version.  Although since I started with Bonding Boss, which improves adhesion hence the “bonding” part, that was probably a moot point.

On the other hand, the Silk paint doesn’t require a topcoat and can still be wiped clean with a damp rag once cured.  So it’s great for the inside of toolboxes to create a durable finish with the least amount of effort.

Here’s the inside with one coat of Anchor.

The outside has one coat of Midnight Sky.

Once dry, I added those gorgeous florals from the I.O.D. Saint Germain transfer.

They are just so gloriously shabby, don’t you agree?

And they are perfect over black.

As a final touch, I added a gold ‘label’ from the I.O.D Étiquettes gilded transfer to the top.

I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to protect the chalk mineral paint and the transfers.

Easy peasy.

As with all of this week’s toolboxes, this one will be available at my upcoming occasional sale unless someone snatches it up ahead of time by checking out my ‘available for local sale‘ page.

Welcome to day 2 of toolbox week.

Today I’m sharing the makeover of this … well … technically it’s a tackle box.  So far we’ve had a lunchbox and now a tackle box, but I group them all in my ‘toolbox’ category.

It did originally have two pop up trays that came up when you opened it, but I had my handyman Ken remove them so that now it’s just an empty shell.

As I mentioned yesterday, I prepped all of this week’s ‘toolboxes’ the same way.  Scrubbing them with Dawn dish soap out in the garden, rinsing them with the hose, letting them dry in the sun, then giving them a good scuff sanding and another rinse.  I followed that up with a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss to prevent any rusty or oily spots from bleeding through my paint.

Next this tackle box got a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door on the inside.

Once dry I protected it with Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat.

Then I painted the outside in DB’s Drop Cloth.

I added some roses from I.O.D.’s Rose Botanical transfer.

But I also knew that I wanted to have some sort of typography on it.  I would have loved to use more of I.O.D.’s Label Ephemera for that, but my supply of that retired transfer is running out.  So I started looking at my other options.  I ended up pulling out the re.design with prima transfer called Sunlit Serenade and using just the wording from it.

I’m fairly sure that is Italian, which is a nice change of pace.

After adding a random bee and butterfly from other transfers, I finished the outside with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Isn’t it pretty!

This tackle box will be available at my sale next week.

Unless one of you locals wants to snatch it up first.  If so, check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

If you’ll remember back to 2024, I decided that the collective noun for a grouping of toolboxes would be ‘windfall’.

Well, I’ve found another windfall of toolboxes lately.  In fact, I even passed on a few the last time I was out garage saling because I felt like I had so many at home already … but I have to admit, I sort of regret that now.

But … oh well.  I’m sure I’ll continue to find more (hopefully those aren’t famous last words!).

In the meantime, I thought I’d better get going on some of these so it’s time for another toolbox week!

On a recent warm and sunny day I set up an assembly line prep station for the toolboxes.

I started by washing them all with the garden hose and some Dawn dish soap.  Then I sat them in the sun to dry.  Once dry, I sanded them to remove any flaking paint or rust, followed by another rinse with the hose and more time in the sun to dry.

Next I gave them all a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out to prevent any rust from bleeding through my paint job.

Then it was time to get painting.  Today I’ll start with the metal lunchbox.

I painted the inside using Dixie Belle’s Blueberry.

I have to admit, since I put frozen blueberries in my smoothies almost every morning, this color doesn’t really feel ‘blueberry’ to me.  I think of it as more of a cornflower blue.

And it worked beautifully with the pretty blue cornflowers in the I.O.D. Madeleine transfer.

I painted the outside of the toolbox in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth and once dry, I sanded it all over to add back some ‘age’.

After applying those swags of pretty blue cornflowers, I added some typography from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer (long since retired, more’s the pity).

I sealed the inside of the toolbox with Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat, but I don’t like to use that product over transfers.  I find that it can look a little filmy over them.  So the outside was finished using Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

This sweet little lunchbox will make its way into my upcoming Carriage House Sale, along with all the rest of them that you’ll see here this week.

If you are local, be sure to save the date!

You may remember that I picked up a trio of metal boxes at an estate sale a couple of weeks back.

The smallest galvanized box on the left was rather unique.  It opens to the side.

I knew this one would make for a fun makeover project.

I started with my usual prep of washing with Dawn dish soap and hot water, followed by a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out.

Next up I gave the inside a coat of Dixie Belle paint in Cottage Door.

More on that color choice in a minute.

Next I painted the exterior of the box in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Then I pulled out I.O.D.’s By Any Other Name transfer and chose some roses that I thought would be perfect on this box.

I added roses to both of the long sides of the box, without really deciding which side I would consider to be the front.  I also chose roses that had a creamy pale tone to them.  It wasn’t until later that I realized that most of them read more pale yellow rather than cream now that they are in place.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that …

However, I now think I should have gone with a different color on the interior.  Unfortunately, I had already applied Dixie Belle’s clear wax over the Cottage Door.  So to repaint would be a process.  Sure, you can eventually paint over Dixie Belle’s clear wax because it is water based (this is not true of all waxes, FYI), but not until the wax is cured (7 to 10 days).  At that point you also need to clean the surface with their White Lightening cleaner (or a similar TSP based cleaner) and then scuff sand before painting.

So hopefully the Cottage Door isn’t as wrong as I think because I’m leaving it.

Plus, the lid on this box is likely to mainly remain closed.

I mean, I’d want to see the top of that box, wouldn’t you?

That transfer on the top is also from the I.O.D. By Any Other Name set.

I also added some bits to either end of the box.

The wording above is from the I.O.D. Saint Ouen transfer as is this transfer on the other end …

and the typography on the front of the box.

I also finished off the exterior of the box with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

This one is headed into Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater today, so if any of you locals are interested be sure to head down there to check it out.

Also, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think of today’s ‘toolbox’!