Lane Cedar Chest Transformation

While picking this spring, I came across a 1969 Lane Cedar Chest in disarray.  I know!  Can you believe it?  It actually looked a bit worse than this when I found it!  In this picture, I had already spent a couple hours peeling the veneer off the top and sides.  Halfway through this project, I headed to Menards and picked up a heat gun.

After all that hard work, I looked at the top and said to myself “self” what the heck am I going to do with that?  I busted out my new Annie Sloan Chalk Paints and started to play.  I was after an old world feel, trying to create a patina that shows years and years of love.

I layered several different colors of chalk paint and kept working it
and working it, and working it until I came up with the look I was going for.  I then waxed with both clear and dark wax buffing it with steel wool over and over until it was smooth and had a wonderful feel.

I created a little dry brush technique to the top also using Annie Sloan’s paints and waxes, layering each until it had the look of a reclaimed piece of barn wood.

I contacted lane and they sent me a new child safety lock and key set to replace the original.  Lane will replace your lock and key free of charge for any chest built before 1990, I think that’s the year.  My Lane Cedar Chest was manufactured in 1969.  You can identify the date it was manufactured by reading the serial number backwards:)

The hardware was scrubbed just a bit so it would leave some of the natural patina.  I lightly sanded the inside and back of the cedar chest then refreshed the wood with cedar oil.  Then Cathy worked her magic on the sewing machine and made some great fabric liners to cover the ugly, grass green felt they always put in them.  Did I just type that out loud?  I WISH I would have taken a picture of the inside and back to show you, they turned out SO nice!  But nooo… I can’t show you because it sold as soon as we unveiled it! 

Now THIS is the BEST part of the story….
A gal stopped by Art in the Park while it was raining and really liked it, but decided to come back later when the rain let up.  It didn’t.  She thought the art show was a two day event.  It wasn’t.  She told her sister about it when she got back to Chicago and like any good sister would, she told her to buy it.  There was only one problem… she hadn’t grabbed a business card and had no idea the name of our business.

She contacted someone from Art in the Park and together they figured out who we were.  She emailed me then drove up the following week to get it.  I’ve had two more people call me since who also hoped to purchase it:)

Pretty neat yeah?  I thought it was a happy ending:)