JC and I have been living pretty frugally the last couple of years - rotten economy and a big desire to stay out of debt - so we've become the king and queen of trash. Finding it, making do with it and turning it into as much of a treasure as we can manage. Most of the time it works out just fine. The Holiday Rambler is our favorite trailer, JC has learned all sorts of new skills fixing and repairing stuff, and I have become best friends with a can of paint.
Not too long ago our TV died, it was football season and it didn't take long for JC to find another one. Bigger and heavier than our old one, it wouldn't fit on the entertainment center. We put it precariously on a rattan trunk and kept looking for another solution.
A friend was giving this away and I thought it would work, at least until this TV died and we could finally get a flat screen. Have you noticed the way things are going? There are entertainment centers galore at the thrift stores because you don't need one once you get rid of the big boxy TVs. Now TVs can float on the wall and all you really need is an iHome or something like that for music.
So I knew this would not be forever and I was reluctant to shell out money for a piece of furniture we'd soon be discarding ourselves. I would make the trunk do. But not white with those flower decals...
Which were more of a problem than I thought. She must've put them on with white or wood glue and trying to get them off took the paint with it. Stripping the whole trunk was not something I was interested in doing so I did what I could with a razor and a sander.
Next, I went off to the hardware store with a paint in mind - a suede paint I'd used before. No suede paint to be found. This WAS happening this weekend so I ended up buying a textured Rustoleum:
and putting two coats of a medium brown on the trunk.
Kind of a Milky Way candy bar brown. Eh.
I also bought some metallic paint in bronze and brushed that on the locks and the corner pieces.
Now we have a pirate's chest in the living room! Sigh. Not that I want to move this television again but I'll be keeping an eye out for something that is more my style. This trunk has a usefulness somewhere but it isn't my favorite project ever.
I look at it and I try to imagine going on a trip with this kind of luggage.... can you see it? It would hold a lot of stuff! But on those ships you needed formal wear and weeks worth of clothing. I think a trunk like this should live in a bedroom and hold winter blankets or something at the foot of a bed.
There are days when I am sick of being frugal. Then I remember the days of endless bills and am reminded that having "stuff" isn't the be all end all. Having time to do the things I love is what matters. And then I can live with a pirate's chest in the living room.
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