Craft Monday: A new look for an old toy box

This Craft Monday has ended up turning into a full craft month, as this was a big project and we have been very busy with Fall and Halloween activities, but we are happy with the results!

I have this old toy box that my dad put together when I was little and, well, let's just say it's seen much better days. Because of its rough condition, I didn't want to keep toys in it, so we've been using it as storage for winter hats, scarves, and gloves, but when we found a great deal on a new storage bench, I decided it was time to move the winter stuff into the new bench and fix up the old toy box.

Here's what it looked like before the renovation.


I took the lid off, filled in the holes & cracks with wood putty and got some nice new hinges.



Alayna had lots of fun helping me paint the box (and herself) with white semigloss latex paint. It needed at least three good coats.




I found this cute bird fabric on sale at the fabric store and decided to use the small birds to cover some foam to make a cushion on the box lid. And I cut out the large birds to decoupage onto the box.



I got this bird-themed scrapbook paper and used it to cut out flower petals and leaves.



Then, I echoed the pattern on the bird fabric by painting similar tree branches onto the box with acryllic paint.




I broke out the good old Mod Podge and decoupaged the fabric birds and paper flowers and leaves onto the box. I put a couple of extra coats of Mod Podge on as well as sprayed it with a clear acryllic sealer to make sure it well protected.



Finally, I replaced the cushioned lid, screwed on some lid supports so it won't crash down on little fingers, and here is the final product!

We filled it up with toys and moved it into Alayna and Cecily's room.