Yesterday was my birthday and my husband asked what I wanted to do for my birthday. My idea of a fun day is visiting thrift stores and antique boutiques so that is what we spent the day doing. We made our usual rounds to most of the local thrift stores, sometimes I get lucky other times not so eventful, however, I managed to find a few things such as, vintage laces and a couple hand crocheted doilies, a heart shaped pillow and an old “portable bar” black leather box. The inside was covered in a hideous, burgandy velvet paper. The glass decanter was missing the only items still intact was a bottle opener and a martini stirrer. My husband said what on earth do you want with that ugly thing. I said, “ I don’t see it that way I see it for what it can be. Of course, again I failed to take a before photo as I was over anxious to work on my newly found treasure. I couldn’t wait to get dinner under way so I could begin working on the restoration. I first removed all the velvet paper and made a pattern for the new cloth lining and painted the outer box with “Annie Sloan” Old White paint. This is a miracle paint,I painted it right over the old black leather surface. It took three coats of paint, then I lightly sanded it so some of the black leather would show through for a distressed look. I still have to find a stencil for the outside front, I am not sure as of yet what I want to put on it therefore, it won’t be 100% complete until I stencil or stamp the front. I lined the inside with fabric left over from other projects. It is Paris themed fabric with lots of script designs on the fabric.
Special Finds: Heart shaped pillow, roll of vintage lace, old pillow case with lace edging (I was going to take the lace off -which is what I usually do, however after bleaching it, the pillow case had no spots on it so I decided to keep it and use it), (2) lace doilies, and some miscellaneous laces.
Below is the black leather (suitcase style – portable bar box) that I refurbished.
