Making something old new again

On my recent vacation, I spent a lot of time in some great little thrift and vintage shops. The Gulf Coast of Florida seems to be full of them. On my birthday, Mr. Thrifty and I stumbled upon a little store called the Attic Shop in St. Pete Beach that was run by the local Episcopal church. The sweetest, little old ladies welcomed us and pointed out a myriad of new things that had just come in. I found several treasures that I will try to share another time, but my favorite was this vintage jewelry box.They were using it as a display, but were willing to sell it to me for $10. I was in love! Sure, it was dinged up some, but it was such good quality, I couldn't pass it up. 

Once I got it home, I looked at the bottom and discovered that it was made my the Mele Company that has been making jewelry boxes since 1912. I haven't been able to determine how old this one is yet, but I think it's so cool to have something made by this company.

Because of her (yes, the jewelry box is a she) age and wear, she needed a little TLC before I started filling her up. The inside velvet and the drawers were in perfect shape. It was just the outside that needed a makeover.

I chose my favorite shade of pink in a glossy spray paint from Lowes for $4.Spray paint is fast, cheap, and drys fast. Plus who doesn't want to feel like they are tagging something with graffiti every once in awhile?! :)

Before I got started, I used painter's tape to cover up the parts of the drawers that I didn't want painted and I also taped off the inside of the box so I didn't ruin the velvet and drawer casings.

I then used a hand held sander to lightly take off the old varnish on the entire outside and the fronts of the drawers. This helps the new paint to hold better.

Once I got the prep work was done, I was finally able to start spraying. It took several coats to cover the old, dark stain, but because the spray paint drys so quickly, it didn't take long to get this done.

I love how it turned out! I wish I had been able to take the hardware off and repaint it silver but they were glued on. I may attempt to take a tiny brush later and change the color if I get brave.

Here are the insides. I really like the look of the pink against the original dark wood.

So for a total of $14 and a little bit of time, I have a beautiful new to me jewelry box to store my shiny things. This was my first time giving something like this a make over and I really enjoyed it. It was really exciting to see something old and have a vision of how I could make it new with a little love.

There are several other items that I collected on my vacation that I have also made over that I'm excited to share with y'all in my next few posts.

peace, love, and cute shoes~

chrissy