The Suitcases!

I can't remember when or where I saw that someone had used a vintage suitcase to store craft supplies. They had covered it with some crazy craft paper and made it virtually unrecognizable as an old suitcase, but I had better plans. I then became obsessed with finding old suitcases. I looked in the KSL classified adds pretty much daily until I finally found a set that I fell in love with! I begged my husband for them but he just didn't understand the appeal and by the time I talked him into it the suitcases were gone.

Little did I know that my wonderful sister and mom were in cahoots and had gotten the suitcases for me for Christmas. I was so happy Christmas morning when I got them.

Here they are in all their retro glory!

If I had the right decor I probably could have just left them mustard yellow, but they just didn't fit in my house this way. Here comes the spray paint. I got white spray paint specially made for plastic and waited for it to be less than 70% humidity and more than 35 degrees outside which was kind of hard in Washington during December. Finally the day came! I had already taped over all of the hardware, which was the most annoying part, and was ready to go. I probably could have gotten away with two coats of paint but I did three just for good measure.

 What a change huh?! They still looked a little stark to me so I used some silver metallic acrylic paint to antique the edges and around the hardware. I tried to get a good picture to show this, but I just couldn't get one so you'll have to use your imagination. Then I bought some round wooden legs at JoAnn's for around $5 and painted them with the metallic silver. Now I have the most unique looking end table that holds all of  my craft paper, my ribbon, and my paints. Every time I look at these they make me happy.