Restoring Hope

Before I get to carried away with things that happened in October (last year), I wanted to share a very big and special project my husband was working on.  Restoring an old Hope Chest.  I am sorry but I didn't think to take a before picture but you do get a little glimpse of it with the one below.

 



This is also the only picture I have of him working on it.  He had to make a few changes which was a bit scary to do because he really didn't want to mess it up and ruin it.

He had to chip away a little bit of the top layer to replace some Vanier tape thing.  This was a very slow process.

Besides going along the back of the top ne also did the boarder around the front and side panels.  Just to help give it a more uniform look. 

The next big thing was sanding the entire chest.  Even doing this was a little nerve racking because you felt like you were ruining it's original charm.

The original had so many scraps and dents in it that it did really need those smoothed out to help restore its "first" looks.

While sanding it he added the back Vanier tape to the top.  Then sanded it down a little so it would be a very smooth transition.

Even did the sides of the lid too.  He was very particular about the detail.

 



Finally onto the other Vanier tape add on sections and it is really starting to look good.  I like how the top pops a little more with that on it.

This too was sanded down a little to help with the smooth transition.

Sides look great as well.

 

Next was adding the lip back onto the lid.  He really wanted to put the original back on but it just wouldn't work so he made this one to match the original.  He is so talented and I don't think he knows it enough.

SO NICE LOOKING!

 

The crazy part is this all looks so simple and that it would take hardly any time but it took a TON!

 

My husband also had to add on a back piece that was broken/missing for the top lid thus the new board you see in the picture.  With everything finally put together it was time to stain it.

The top lid was our "test" piece in a way.  We were booth pretty nervous about matching the original stain color but it hit it really close.  Like almost right on the mark.  With our confidence up that meant staining the rest.

He set it up on my holiday decoration box (which thankfully I didn't need to get into yet) and stained the entire bottom.

It took awhile for the entire thing to dry and then we had to stain a few areas so the color would be right in those places.

The next part of the project was rubbing cedar solution on the inside so it would have that smell/protection back again.

My husband put at least 3-4 coats on the thing.  Probably over doing it but he wanted to make sure it was good.  My garage smelled of cedar for a long time after that.

Finally the top is back on!

 

Looking good from side.....

 

To side.

 

The last few things were to polish it and then find a new key for the lock since it didn't come with one.  Thankfully he found a locksmith in town that had a key mold for that year/model of chest.  It was also a decent price too. Now with all this work down the chest was off to his little sister as a special Christmas present.  I really hope she loves it a super ton because I know I do but I also know all the work and time and stress that went into getting this thing back to a level of perfection too.