A Carved Box Gets a Makeover...

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Don’t you just love surprises? I do too- especially when it’s free and it’s vintage. Last year I purchased an antique hope chest for $25. There was a cardboard box inside the chest – which I pointed out to the seller- and he informed me that it was included in the price 🙂 What he really said was “Aww…take it”.

Inside this cardboard box were many treasures, including this wooden box.

The box is pretty and carved – and in these close up photos it looks really good. I assure you that I never noticed the carving until I was close up to the box. I displayed this treasure in different spots around the house but it just kind of blended into the scenery and felt flat.

I decided to do a paint wash treatment to it. My dad hates it when I paint wood and I did debate doing this but I figured:

I wasn’t happy with its current look
I won’t use it or display it
It was free
It’s not antique
I want it to pop

This project took literally 10 minutes start to finish – my favorite kind of project 🙂

I used a sage-gray paint leftover from another project…

I watered down the paint considerably – approximately four parts water to one part paint.

I then began painting the entire box top with the paint-wash…

I didn’t let the wet paint surface sit for very long. Using a paper towel I began removing the wet paint-wash being sure to leave wet paint in the carved areas. I kept wiping until I had the desired finish that I wanted.

I repeated the same process on the entire box…

The wooden box was virtually dry when I finished painting and wiping off the excess. I then applied a thin coat of paste was for a bit of protection and sheen…