The Nelson Family: Ian's Treasure Chest Makeover

I saw this cute mid-sized treasure chest at Goodwill and thought it would be fun to paint it Mario-themed for Ian. I started the project towards the beginning of September, but I had to set this project aside since we had the cruise to go on, so I worked on it a little bit into October too. It took me way longer than I ever thought it would, but that seems to be the norm for projects--they always take longer than expected! First, I had to get the original paint off. It was and ugly black and gold. I wish I would have taken a picture of how it looked to begin with. Whoops. Anyway, the paint stripping part--ugh. It was a pain, mostly it was because I was too stubborn to buy actual paint stripper at first. I wanted to keep this project as inexpensive as possible, which ended up being for naught. I started by scraping the paint. Then I tried some acetone. It worked pretty well but dried up to fast. Then I ran out of acetone, and instead of being smart and buying paint stripper, I bought more acetone instead. I hope I didn't do any damage to myself from breathing in too much of it haha! Yikes. When the chest was stripped as good as I could get it, I sprayed it with some bright green spray paint that I bought off Amazon. I did not like the way it turned out. The paint was splotchy, uneven and way too bright. So back to the beginning. This time I was smarter and bought some actual paint stripper and some nicer green paint at Walmart. I spent the next few days stripping off the green spray paint, and even a bit more of the original paint that I didn't initially get. And then sanding, sanding, sanding!

Then it was ready to paint (again!). The newer green paint was so nice to work with and looked much, MUCH better than that bright green spray paint. I used Waverly inspirations chalk paint, and it went on like a dream! I put a few coats on and let it dry, and I was on to the next step/fun part of the project: painting the Mario figures! I let Ian choose which characters he wanted on his box. Then I printed them up on the computer to the size I wanted and transferred them on the top and the front using pastels and a pencil. I took the chest up to my craft room and got to work. I started with the front side and painted a Koopa and Bowser (just like Ian wanted). The surface had a slightly rough texture due to the cheap-o pressed particle board used in the construction, but it was still paintable. Then I painted Mario and Luigi on the top. The texture on the top was much smoother (actual wood) so the characters look a bit brighter and clearer on the top than the ones on the front. I like how the characters turned out--super fun and bright. No problems painting them, although I did have to adjust how Mario was holding the star since otherwise it wouldn't fit. I painted along the raised border a similar shade of green as the spray paint.

Even though the painting part was all done, I still wasn't finished! I took the chest back outside and sprayed it with a few coats of clear protectant. There wasn't much hardware on this, but what there was I had previously taken off to make it easier to scrap, sand, and paint. I used painter's tape to cover the hinges on the back, but everything else got removed and cleaned. Before I could put the hardware back on, the old velvet lining had to be replaced--it was icky. I found some new pretty blue velvet lining with a sticky backing. I used modpodge glue as well to make extra sure it stuck on the wood. The original lining came out in pre-cut chunks, so all I did was traced their outline on the new stuff. It all went perfectly up until I ran out, and then I had to wait a few more days to get the new lining. I put back the hardware sometime during this step--most of it was sandwiched between the lining and wood. The new lining was looking perfect until the very last piece--I think I accidentally stretched it too much, so it got a couple of wrinkles in it, but it's nothing too noticeable. And that's it! Finally done! It now lives in Ian's room--he uses it to store some of his plushies.