We recently rearranged our lounge room and got rid of the couch in favour of a couple of extra leather arm chairs. It created a problem because Molly our Westipoo puppy was used to sitting on top of the couch to look out the front window.
I said to hubby "what we really need is a big old trunk for her to sit on that can function as a coffee table as needed" and in a crazy coincidence our neighbour put one out with his trash that week! I'm a lover of anything old and adore the distressed look of vintage items so I rescued the trunk and set to work.
It was a large metal trunk, somewhat heavily rusted on the outside and had several coats of paint applied during its lifetime brown, white, orange and the original blue. But inside it was still like new. So I decided to sand the rust off and add to the distressed look by sanding through the layers of paint in many places all over to replicate normal wear and tear and show all the layers of paint and even a little of the original metal. Then I sprayed it with clear coat to protect it.
I also got hubby to add castors so it was easy to move around.
It now lives in the perfect spot by the front window for Molly to watch the neighbours pass by.
But what has this all got to do with quilting?
It's the perfect place for me to store all my precious trunk show quilts!
So I've sorted my quilts in to two batches:
- Everyday usage quilts stored in large whicker baskets or displayed on shelves
- Trunk show quilts (examples of quilts from my books) that are stored in the trunk
There's a scrap quilt wrapped around the quilts in the trunk just in case any rust develops inside the trunk, without my noticing but it shouldn't as the trunk was pristine on the inside.
So it's the perfect trunk for my trunk show quilts! I love it!
Old stuff just makes my heart sing and I truly feel this trunk was meant to be in my home. Things you love don't have to come from a store, one person's trash can truly be another person's treasure. Keep that in mind as this final day dawns in the lead up to Christmas. Our landfills are full of things that were once gifted for Christmas. No Christmas gift I've ever received makes me as happy as this old trunk.
Reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose, restore.