Restored For Our Friend Don & Family July 2007 Antique Dome Top Trunk Circa 1876

An embossed metal dome top trunk that we could find no dates on, but believe to be from around 1876. It is a trunk that was passed down from Don's wife's grandfather. The story goes that this trunk was well traveled and had made a least one trip down the Mighty Mississippi with Grandfather. The pictures above and below are the ones Don sent showing it to be extremely rusty, and as they said, well traveled.

We ended deciding on a very dark "red based" color (but not bright red) and tan and that the wood slats be cleaned up and brought back to an oak color.  The inside is to be lined in cedar. I shot Don a quote and UPS arrived with the trunk about 4-5 days later. The first order of business was to secure a hinge on the back that was loose. No need to risk further damage with the lid flopping around. After that, the inside was stripped of the old paper, any odor's removed, and the wood cleaned up. Since we would be dealing with paints, the cedar lining would come later. But we have a nice start and it looks pretty solid inside.

With the inside manageable, we took to working on the metal, straighting out some damaged sections making them safe and removing the rust.  A decent amount of the rust was removed manually, some in fragile and hard to get areas, treated with a chemical converter.  The metal did pretty well and there were just a few small places of damage under the rust. Nothing warranting replacing the original metal of their heirloom antique trunk.  The wood slats were cleaned up and sanded smooth to make our efforts towards the original oak color.

Since we are going to "two tone" the embossed metal like original, I laid down the first color which   was custom mixed for this trunk.  It is probably best described as "cranberry" and looks great on the trunk thus far.  When completed, it will be visible on the raised areas of the embossing only and as it turns out, is the original color. For the embossed metal background, we wanted to keep it earth toned as requested.  A beige color was chosen and applied. It is darker than the photo below shows, almost a chocolate milkshake tone. As you step away from the trunk, it tones down the embossed coloring but invites you back to    see the detailing.

With the embossed metal mostly complete, attention was turned to the flat metal and hardware that was cleaned up earlier.  Most of the metal trim and hardware was painted a flat black while the metal panels nearest the ground, which are flat and not embossed, painted with the same cranberry color. It now has much the look of a gentleman's trunk from the 1800's.

Now that the outside is mostly completed, I revisited the inside where the wood on the lid was treated with a natural colored wood oil and the inside trunk body lined with thin aromatic cedar planks to complete the restoration.

Thank you Don and family for the opportunity.

Back To Antique Trunk Restoration