Steamer Trunk

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In my Best of 2016 post, I mentioned how much I wanted to do another steamer trunk. One of my favorite clients read that post and enlisted me to makeover this old beauty she had been given from a family member.

I love to think about where these trunks have traveled in their lifetime. Now it’s needed to hold some blankets, so time for a makeover.

This post contains affiliate links to help you find what I’m talking about in the post. Any affiliate earnings go to support more fun projects!

Here’s how the trunk started.

First things first, I cut off all the oil cloth. I just used a straight edge razor and cut it off in sections.

It’s a messy process.

Once the cloth is all gone, I scrubbed the wood with a scotch-brite pad and some warm water. The water and scrubbing dissolves the glue and cleans the old wood underneath. I kept changing the water to get it as clean as I could.

The metal hardware was in great shape, but just to make it stand out a little more, I painted it all in Lamp Black Milk Paint with a small brush. It’s a little tedious, but with a good podcast on in the background, it goes pretty quick.

See what a difference a little black paint makes?

General Finishes Milk Paint is great for metal. It sticks well, and is very durable.

While the outside was drying, I started on the inside…

The insides of these are usually pretty musty, sometimes they are covered in paper, sometimes fabric. I pulled off as much of the fabric (in this case) as I could – the more you can remove the more the smell goes away. I did find the coolest label inside. I love seeing the old advertisements.

Once the inside is cleaned out, I used the shop-vac and vacuumed up all the dust and dirt.

I prefer to use fabric to cover the inside- I chose a nice neutral all over pattern. Grab some Mod-Podge and a chip brush and you are ready to go.

Cut your fabric to size, and apply a generous layer of the Mod-Podge. This seals in any left over smells and give the fabric a good surface to stick to.

Apply the fabric to the wet Mod-Podge and then I use a plastic wall scrapper to smooth the fabric out. Some wrinkles happen, but the all-over pattern hides it well.

Back to the outside…

I decided to stain the wood straps to add a little more contrast – they were a little beat up. I just used a quick coat of Espresso Wood Stain applied with a small brush, wiped off the excess with a cotton rag and let it dry.

The last step, which I forgot to get a picture of, is to apply Miss Mustard Seed’s Hemp Oil over the entire exterior. This brings the wood back to life and seals it all in to protect it. Hemp Oil is like magic – it makes the wood come to life again!

Tucker decided he must get in the photo. He has a way of being right in the way 🙂

Here’s the trunk all finished up! What a difference!!

I added new leather handles to this trunk. I found a great source for all the old trunk parts – they seem to have all the old pieces. Check out Brettun’s Village if you are missing a piece.