French Inspired Box Makeover

before and after

My husband found this old and clearly very damaged wooden box.  He has a lot of faith in me and knows I would make something out of it.. and I did…

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This box was beautiful but it was pretty damaged with wood worm so I knew the only way to restore it would be to paint it rather than try to restore the actual wood.  The wood was covered in little holes.

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After checking there was no wood worm left in the box, I cleaned it thoroughly using a mixture of warm water, washing up liquid and vinegar.

Then the box was ready to be repaired.  I filled every single little hole with wood filler and sanded once it was dry.   I then painted the box using primer just to make sure there is no bleeding through the paint, I used some grey paint for the base layer and for the top layer I used some of my home-made chalk paint to paint it.

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I really wanted the box to have a little French feel, so I found this graphic on the Graphic Fairy, flipped it around in Word and printed off to the size I wanted.

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Please remember to print with laser jet printer and  not inkjet otherwise your image will bleed.  You can read about how to do the transfer in more details on my post here.

I printed the graphic off ir mirror image.

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Then using the mod podge transferred it onto the box.

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Then simply distressed the box and replaced the rope and voila!

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Sharing with Funky Junk Interiors, Shabby Art Boutique

From Evija with Love SIGNATURE NEW

25 thoughts on “French Inspired Box Makeover

  1. You never fail to inspire. Some great tips on restoring a wooden box that I wouldn’t have even thought of! Thanks for linking up to #MakingHome

  2. That’s is a beautiful piece you got there. Some years ago, we threw away a tray because it was not looking that nice anymore and we didn’t know what to do with it.
    I wish I had styled it like you did.
    Thanks for stopping by!

  3. Oh wow this is amazing!! I love it!! You really have done a great job here!! I’m terrible with these things. I wouldn’t be able to transform this box how you did it!! You are very creative!! 🙂 xx
    #lovelythings

  4. This is brilliant, it looks like you brought it in Laura Ashley or something. Very impressed and love the transfer idea, Modge Podge is one of my favourite mediums too. Great photos. #LovelyThings xx

  5. Hi Evija, after looking through your site I found this lovely makeover that will be perfect for a feature in this weeks coming event. I love the deal you used.

    Have a great week, thanks again for Co-Hosting with us!
    Karren
    xo

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