June 27, 2011

New from Old - repurposed suitcase into dress up box!

I couldn't believe my luck when a few months ago my mum gave me some of my old toys, school photos and childhood things she had been storing away at her house forever. The funny thing is the item I was most excited to be getting was the old retro suitcase that all the items were stored in.
This old beauty was the suitcase my parents packed every family holiday we took as kids and those stickers prove it!! How classic is it?!?



As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I would do with it as I had seen a suit case repurposed by A Girl With A Glue Gun HERE into some very cool and practical dress up boxes and wanted to do the very same thing to try and keep my kids dress up bits and pieces under control.
So today was the day. I pulled out the suitcase and with the kids help we made short work of those stickers.



The fabric on the inside is still in good condition considering it's age and use so I was lucky I didn't have to replace it. After a good clean and vacuum inside we lightly sanded the top and sides.


I then put a base coat or two of white paint on the top and sides with just a regular kitchen sponge NOTE: I am a sewer NOT a painter so any artworks you see from here on in please remember that :)


Next with the only 2 little paint brushes I own and a handful of paint colours I have I painted the words "Lets Dress Up" on the top and "play", "imagine" & "laugh" on the sides. I even got adventures with my limited artistic skills and painted a few dress up items on the top too.





We waited for the paint to dry then filled it with all the dress up paraphernalia - TaDah!!



And it fits just nicely under Milla's bed - perfect! Cool hey?
Giggles

3 comments:

Bernie @ Elk & Bloom said...

very cool! that suitcase was a real treasure, how lovely that you've been able to breathe new life into it :)

JustForDaisy said...

Love this! I have my Granny's old suitcase (she's 93) and need a use for it.... perhaps I've found it!

Pockets Full Of Love said...

how clever Amy! love this, and thought the drawings were great!