How to Transform an Old Chest into a Coffee Table

My Inspiration for the Transformation of an Old Chest

Very recently, I bought a nice little apartment located in Old Quebec. Even though it needed alot of TLC, I fell in love with it during the visit.

Before tackling the decoration, I refreshed all the rooms by giving them a coat of paint. Being small, I noticed quite quickly that this apartment lacked a lot of storage space, so I had to find an original idea to add some.

Naturally, like the other rooms, the living room is small in size and for its decoration, I thought of combining business with pleasure by using an old chest as a coffee table. Since I have a passion for recycling, I started looking for the chest that would suit my decorating idea. I found this marvel on Marketplace for the low price of $15. As soon as I saw it…I set off to buy it!!!

This old common style chest that we find in several houses and that I would refine according to my desires and needs would become a unique and very useful piece at the same time. A fairly simple project that didn’t really require any know-how to achieve my goals.

List of Products Used

Colorantic Chalk-Based Paint : Night
Colorantic Metallic Paint : Champagne
Colorantic Top Coat – Matte Varnis
Colorantic Clear Glaze – Translucent Window
Colorantic Synthetic #6 Oval Purple Brush
Colorantic Artist Brush
CoIorantic Two-Grain Sanding Block
Colorantic Granular Hand and Brush Cleaner
Colorantic Cleaner and Varnish Remover
Water Spray Bottle
Chiffon
Paper towels

Preparation and Painting

First of all, I did a very good cleaning using the Colorantic Cleaner and Varnish Remover. I sprayed all the surfaces, I let the cleaner act for about ten minutes and I finally rinsed very well twice to remove all the residue, thus also allowing the paint to adhere well.
So here I am ready to apply the paint and it is for the magnificent colour, Night, that I opted for this project. I applied a first coat of this beautiful colour. With Colorantic paint being very thick, I reduced it by adding a very small amount of water. Indeed, it is possible to dilute this paint by adding water, but note that it can cause the colour to fade slightly if you add too much.
I then let it dry for an hour, but 20 minutes would have been more than enough. The weather was very nice, I poured myself a glass of Sangria and took advantage of the beautiful sunny day while sipping it.
After finishing my delicious drink, I gave it a second coat of paint. For this project, two coats of paint were needed.

Highlight the Details

I was very satisfied with my work, but I found my chest dark and it lacked that little something that would give it a stunning style…So, I decided to apply the metallic paint on the metal ornaments using a small Colorantic artist brush. I painted all the hardware, and one coat was enough to give the look I wanted.

Once dry, I thought it was a little too shiny for my taste, so I improvised a colour using the glaze. You can create your own glaze colour, just mix 1 part chalk-based paint and ¼ part glaze. I chose to mix Night with the glaze. If you wish, you can add more glaze, which will make your painting more transparent. I applied the Night and Glaze paint mixture randomly over the gold elements using the same small artist brush. I dabbed off the excess using a paper towel. I then obtained this very beautiful aged effect that I was looking for.

Protect Your Furniture

For the final protection, I applied two coats of matte varnish which I left to dry for an hour between each application while sipping on a second Sangria! It is the holidays after all!

In order to facilitate the application of the varnish on a dark colour, you can mix ¼ of varnish to a portion of paint and apply two thin coats of this mixture.