Turning an Old Toybox into a Coffee Table!

When I was a child, my sister and I shared a toybox. My parents bought it for us when we were just little girls. It moved from house to house with us, it was our tickle trunk( gotta love Mr Dressup), it was our desk when we played school and we even made it into a sofa when we played house. We fought over it, Melanie even carved her name into the side to proclaim to everyone it was hers. It even made it through a fire! When we each moved out for some reason I got it, and somehow it became my coffee table. I forgot to take a before picture, but this was taken a few weeks before we redid the toybox, you can even see right under the handle where Mel wrote her name!

It is now used to hold blankets for those cold winter days when we want to snuggle on the couch. I recently asked Melanie for permission to sand it down and restain it so it would match our other furniture. Its probably 30 years old so it needed a new finish. Here are some pictures of the process:

After Carl had sanded it down

all prepared to stain

first coat of stain

not happy with the coverage so we ended up doing  a second coat

a couple days after the second coat

applying the semi gloss to give it shine and protection

the finished product after the handles were put back on

close up 

viola!  all done!

Now it looks new and matches our other furniture. Its so great having a piece if my childhood right in my livingroom. Some day I hope to give it to my niece, so she can hopefully pass it along to her children, next time my sister comes for a visit I am going to have her put her name on the inside cover along with mine and Sophie's.A strong piece of furniture with sentimental family history.

Blessings,
Heather