Cedar Chest Makeover

I'm not sure what this is, maybe a hope chest, it is a piece that I have owned for many years.  The lid was split in two and the trim was off, but still there.  It was lined with cedar.

It had a top with a hinge, but I wanted it to open in the front so I had to knock it apart even more.  Eventually I had taken apart almost the whole box.

So besides the repairs that originally had to be done, I had to repair what I knocked apart myself :)

I knew that I wanted to add some sort of legs to this piece, but nothing was working for me.  I just couldn't find what I wanted.  I built a piece out of reclaimed wood but it just didn't go with the chest.  I looked through my "junk" pile, and through my son's "junk" pile, finally I found these balusters in my brother's "junk" pile.  I cut them down to size, cut holes in the bottom of the chest and attached them to the chest.  FINALLY!!! Something that worked.

I cut the front to size and attached it with a piano hinge.  I wanted a little more decoration on the front so I attached some wooden appliques that I had.

I cut a piece of laminated pine for a lower shelf, then painted the whole thing in Smoked Turquoise, and antiqued it with ebony stain.

I'm sharing at ...

Better After