Tuesday 11 February 2014

... and an Upcycled Make Up Storage Box

This box was originally a charity shop purchase... Although when I bought it I had no idea what I was going to do with it! The box then sat on the side for months, looking at me forlornly, until I finally got round to giving it a makeover!!
Here's what it looked like originally,,,, 
It was much too dark for my taste, so I started off by lightly sanding and then painting it with a layer of white primer.
I wanted to give the box a Moroccan, ornate chest sort of feel (if you know what I mean?!?). So I had a rifle through my collection of paint tester pots and chose an orange for the outside and purple for the inside.
The paint looked a bit 'flat', so I thought I'd experiment and give it a distressed look. I've never actually tried this before, so used a variety of random carefully selected tools and began 'distressing'!
The sandpaper worked well to bring out the gold detailing and to also take the shine off the paint. I used the scraper and file to make deeper scratches and bring through the black colour. To finish off, I used a clear varnish to seal and protect. 
Ta da!!
Even once it was finished, I still hadn't actually worked out what I was going to use it for. Then I realised it was perfect size to store my make up.....
This was a really fun project and a great way for me to experiment with different ways of using paint and then getting a distressed look. As a bonus, I now have a place to keep all my make up nice and tidy!!

I'm definitely going to try some more 'distressed paint' projects, so would love to hear your hints and tips please!

8 comments:

  1. I love the colours you've used, especially the purple interior

    ReplyDelete
  2. chalk paint is a fabulous way to distress and I make my own with paints that I pick up from the return table at the hardware store. Here's a project that I worked on with homemade chalk paint: http://upcycledstuff.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-425-goodwill-tableproudly-displayed.html The recipe I use called for 5 Tbls of plaster of paris mixed with 3 Tbls or water but I doubled that and then added it to 2 C. paint. It dries wicked fast and has a beautiful finish after you sand it. Have fun experimenting and thanks for linking up to the Upcycled Linky party!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for such a great tip Tricia. I'll be sure to try that out as I love the effect it gave to your bedside table makeover! x

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...