Toy Chest With Stencil

Thanks Goodwill!
This chest was less than 10 bucks and made of solid pine… just hardware that holds the lid up is almost worth that. Other than a few scratches and 1 deep chip – it was in great shape. Goodwill prices things weird sometime… solid wood is more valuable & useful than particle board stuff.

This one was a pretty easy project. I filled the chip with some home-made wood putty, then sanded the old finish off and any other little scratches or stains. It was painted with white primer coat, then a couple coats of a color that matched the kids playroom. To make the toy chest stand out, we used some stencil leaves & flowers for the front. Some silver spray paint and a few carefully held stencils made quick work of this – and it really looked good!
The white primer is serving two purposes in this case. 1) It’s good to prime newly sanded, bare wood. 2) When distressed, there will be a little white showing through the final coat of paint – adding depth and character.

I also had more help than usual…

After all the painting – there was some light distressing/sanding, and a final coat of polycrylic to seal everything up and give it a great finish. The hardware was spray painted silver, then reattached so it could be filled with teddy bears, peppa pig and an old milk cup that won’t be found for 2 months.