Painted Lane Cedar Chest

Tammy

9 years ago

Ta da! My first painted piece of the new year! My painted Lane cedar chest.

Believe it or not, I bought this cedar chest almost 15 years ago. Most of you know, in a former life, I was a decorative- or as we used to say – Faux finish painter. My BFF and then business partner Rox and I stopped at an estate sale on a whim and found this Lane cedar chest.

It brought back wonderful memories of my Granny’s cedar chest. It was always locked and if you were lucky and got a peek inside you would see wondrous treasures. A coin collection, letters, photos and a dress with a white hooped skirt! I loved that chest. So you know that I had to take this chest home.

Funny thing was, it didn’t make it to my home until a couple of months ago. It went into storage, then we loaned it out to a couple of friends before I got it back and began it’s restoration.

I had just gotten it home when I saw an article about the Lane cedar chest’s locking system. Basically – if you had a small child crawl inside, they couldn’t open it from the inside with the original locks. They would be totally trapped inside of an air tight chest. Which totally freaked me out! However, if you wrote Lane and gave them the serial number on the chest they would send you a replacement for free.

As you can see whoever the original owner was, they never removed the original ads or keys! It was in really awesome condition. Finding the serial number is super easy, it’s always on the back or on the bottom of your chest. I wrote to Lane and a few weeks later received a brand new lock and key. Woo Hoo!

I have never liked a blonde wood finish. Since this was going in my bedroom I decided to paint it gray with a few white accents. A tiny bit of antiquing followed by a wax finish and my cedar chest was done! Woo Hoo!

Here is my finished piece. It is so pretty , I love it! Not too bad for an afternoon’s work.

It is the perfect color for my room. Now I just need to find the perfect rug for the room!

I am toying with the idea of painting more of the furniture in the bedroom – so far I have chickened out. It just feels so dark compared to the rest of the room. I go back and forth on whether to paint or not to paint.