Restored Keepsake Box – Artsy Chicks Rule®

Restored keepsake box to store all kinds of goodies! Easy with paint, transfers, and fabric!

Hello, and happy Trash to Treasure Transformation Tuesday, beautiful friends!

I hope you are having an amazing fall so far. Wow, is it not just flying right on by?! It sure feels like it.
I’m sharing a super cute little makeover today and I’m gonna say I was a little “extra” on this one. Haha
I could’ve painted and done! But like I said, I got a little extra. You’ll see. 😉

Don’t forget to scroll all the way down and catch my friends’ fun makeovers too.

Restored Keepsake Box

You know me and my box makeovers, right? I’m a sucker for a box.
I have made over SO many here on the blog. I need to do a round-up of them all soon.
Kind of get them all in one place so we can do a little revisit on them.

But today, let’s talk about this little $4 cutie.
I loved the wood detail on the top which made it different. I also loved the fact that it had tile as that gave a little different touch too.

Here’s the inside…

And yes, it is indeed already being painted blue because oops, I forgot to photograph it before I started painting.

As you can see I used blue paint. Here are all the things I used:

1. SAND

The finish was a bit shiny so I lightly sanded the whole thing so the paint would grip better.

2. PAINT

Next, I painted with the Champness. 2 Coats.

Great color but “eh” with all the fun wood design on top. Am I right? Yes, I am and I’m gonna fix it. 😉

3. ULTRA GRIP

While I waited for the paint to dry in between coats, etc., I brushed some Ultra Grip onto the tiles.
They are slick and I wanted to make sure the paint would grip well.

4. ADD DEPTH

Now for the fun part.

As I mentioned, pretty color but I wanted to make it pop.

I added a darker shade of blue (Seaside, I adore this color) to add a little depth.

I dipped a small artist’s brush in the paint, wiped most away, and then applied just around the edges.

Then I took a rag (old sheet) dipped in water (not dripping, just damp), and wiped the paint around the edges, leaving the middle mostly light.

If too much paint came off, I simply added a little more and blended again.

This is similar to what I did on our coffee bar dresser. You can see that project, right here.

Let me preface this before I go on. I had a terrible time trying to pick up on camera what I was seeing in person.
The picture below shows the top after I’ve added the darker blue. You might be able to tell how the inset areas are lighter.

5. PAINT THE TILE AND ADD TRANSFER

You can also see above how I painted the tile. I used “Casement” and it took several coats.

I didn’t love the middle space so caulked it.

Once that was dry, I painted over it to make sure it matched.

Then I applied this pretty blue floral transfer. I used a transfer tool to transfer it to the keepsake box.

I used this same transfer on nesting tables recently. You can see it here.

6. ADD GOLD ACCENTS

I decided to go one step further and give it a bit of dry brushing with this pretty gold paint.

Yes, that’s it. It’s subtle but shimmers nicely. (pictures are hard to capture)

Can you see it?

Want to know more about dry brushing?? Check out this post here: How To Dry Brush

7. NEW FABRIC LINING

I measured and cut out the fabric to be just a tad too large. Then I turned it backward and drew a line where the edge was.
Next, I cut it on my cutting mat (it’s great because it makes a perfectly straight cut…you can get it here)

Then simply used Decoupage Gel to attach it to the inside. (I didn’t bother removing the old)

8. POLY TOPCOAT (on the tile and transfer area)

I finished up by applying a coat of poly over the transfer/tile area.

Love the depth the darker blue adds. (see it on the side?) And the “extra” the gold adds too.
Can you see it a little better in this shot??

I went back and forth on whether I wanted to do “two tiles”, with images on each. But I’m glad I went with this look instead.
I like how it centers the piece. The two images on the original were odd to me.

I think this looks so much better.

I also considered leaving a tiny gap between the flower where the “grout” would be.
But I also decided against that too!

And I’m glad about that too. lol whew!

The fabric was just something I had in my stash…and it was blue so in it went!

You can really see the darker blue on the front of the keepsake box above.

Perfect little box for keeping things. Restored, restyled, and ready to be reloved!

PIN it to save it!

Now hop on over and visit my friends below!

1. Girl in the Garage
2. Confessions of a Serial DIYer
3. Prodigal Pieces
4. Salvaged Inspirations

I hope you enjoyed the makeovers today! I’ll see you right back here on Thursday.
Have a wonderful week!
xoxo