That awesome trunk

Remember that fantastic trunk my friend gave me…? Here, let me refresh your memory:

I am SO very thrilled with the way it turned out!

Have I mentioned I don’t quite understand the Union Jack fascination? I really don’t. However, I can see that lots of others like it and so I thought this would be a great chance to try it out. Sure, I could have just slapped a painted flag on top…. that seemed too easy and surprises are fun. I decided instead to make it simple on the outside with a “BANG” inside.

First I peeled out that Declaration of Independence bamboo place mat (?) out with a chisel. Seriously… it was krazy glued down or something. Next I painted the sides and then  the metal edges. Ok, please note, if you ever paint a trunk (and I am doing a huge one soon) paint the metal edges first. It is SO much easier to paint the flat surfaces than it is to paint the edges. I do not care to mask things off if I don’t have to (have I mentioned I can be a bit lazy?). Painting the edges first would have made the process SO much easier! SO please just remember that if you decide to give this a try. Other than that, it was a breeze.

The fabric I chose is rather busy so rather than line the entire inside, I decided it would be better to only do the top and bottom. I was going to paint over the contact paper until I tried peeling it out and it was SUPER easy! SO I peeled it all out and painted the inside the same blue as the outside.

Then I got some leftover poster board and cut rectangles the same size as the top and bottom. The board was a bit short, so I grabbed the painters tape and added about an inch and a half at the long side and just taped it flat (you’ll see it in the pictures below). Then I cut the fabric roughly the size of the poster board, cut the corners essentially off and folded over the corners.. essentially a miter cut.

I used spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the poster board and then folded over and glued the edges the same way. After that, I needed to attach the piece to the trunk itself. Should someone grow tired of the pattern, I decided to use foam mounting tape so changing it out would be easy if one so desired…

It’s made by 3M and super easy to use. On the top I used a bit more just because I didn’t want gravity to be an issue.

Want to see the finished product? I just L.O.V.E. it!

What do you think? Do you love it as much as I do?