Monday, December 8, 2008

Wood Stacking Bentwood Boxes

I keep my 'lotions and potions' in some stacking paper mache boxes on my bathroom counter. I have been wanting to replace these boxes with some antique wood shaker boxes for the longest time, but I haven't found any that I liked so I decided to make my own. I purchased some 'wood' bentwood stacking boxes at the unfinished furniture store.



These came pre-painted with a nice shade of green. I then stenciled the boxes with some black paint.



I wanted these boxes to have a nice 'aged look'. For this effect, I sanded the paint off all the sharp edges with sandpaper and my electric nail file (a dremel wood work as well), sanding in an uneven fashion. My husband made me a 'wood distressing tool'. It looks kind of medieval, but does a really great job. It's basically a 12" piece of chain with nuts, bolts, washers and other assorted metal items that are bolted through 5 or 6 links at one end of the chain. I simply swing the chain and hit the wood with the metal pieces. It's a great stress reliever too!



This is how the beat up areas look after the box was painted.

My painting technique was using a rag, I wiped black paint over the entire painted surface and really rubbed it into the 'nooks and crannies'. Then, I wiped off the black paint (the beat up areas retained the black paint) and let it dry for an hour. To finish it off, I applied a coat of polyurethane.


This is the completed set of boxes from the front. They are not as shiny as they look in the picture. I used a 'satin finish' poly and they have more of an aged patina feel to them.



This is the boxes from the back.



This is a closeup of one of the stencils. When I wiped the black paint on, it also wiped off some of the stencil - but I liked the effect and so I kept it that way. All in all, I am pleased with my 'antique bentwood boxes' and will enjoy using them, but I will continue my search for some true 'antique shaker boxes'.

3 comments:

  1. Love the boxes. Love anything shaker!

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  2. Nice project. I think we all need one of your distressing tools. And cool blog, I'll check back in again when I'm on Quilting Bloggers. Cheers!

    Mary in TX

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  3. you did a great job on the boxes, they look really cool.
    Karen
    http://karensquilting.com/blog/

    ReplyDelete

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