How to paint a Gold and White Striped Trunk

INSIDE : Learn how to paint a Gold and White Striped Trunk or chest.  Add a modern twist to your outdated piece and be proud to display it in your home again!
 
Gold White Stripes Painted Trunk
This post has been updated from it’s original June 2014 date.
Gold and White Striped trunk
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I’ve been really excited to share this fun office update for a while.  I had been wanting to give this chest an update for a while and knew I wanted to do stripes.  It wasn’t until I saw Jenn from My Fabuless Life’s Painted Vintage Trunk that I was inspired to grab my brushes and get to it!  Time to share How to paint a Gold and White Striped Trunk.
 

What supplies do I need to paint a Gold and White Striped Trunk?

Old Trunk
White Spray Paint
Gold Spray Paint (this one is my FAVORITE)
Painter’s Tape
Sand Paper

I wish I could say I’ve had this lovely item in the family for years and it’s been passed down for generations.  However, the truth is I bought it from Marshall’s about 10 years ago.   I also left it out in our sun room for six months and with such low low humidity here in the desert, the leather straps became very brittle.
Old trunk
My original plan was to paint soft blue and gold stripes on my chest.  That plan however didn’t end up looking very good.
Spray paint white and gold

How do you paint a Gold and White Striped Trunk?

My first step was to spray paint the trunk with a white spray paint and primer combo.  The original dark color of my chest would have shown through if I hadn’t started with a primer.
White painted chest
Next, I painted the entire chest in the blue color.  I was starting to hate it, but was at that very pivotal moment when it might be awful – or it might suddenly be the most amazing thing ever.  I’ll save you the worry, it ended up being awful.
 
SO, my next step (and feel free to stick the bad blue step – hopefully yours is still all white from the paint + primer step) was to add painter’s tape around the entire trunk to start creating my stripes.  Once the tape was secured down, I used my very favorite Gold spray paint.
Painters tape trunk

I also painted the top of my trunk with the gold paint.  And before the paint was dry, I removed all the painter’s tape.

The final look is a simple and modern gold and white striped chest!

Gold and White stripes

I used some sandpaper and distressed the corners just a little bit.  It made it have a more vintage trunk look.

Decor on trunk
I use this trunk to hold all my sewing machine things.  I have my sewing basket in there with needles, sewing scissors and all the pedals and cords to my machine.
How to paint a chest

Trunk corner details
And I just could not leave that ugly maroon velvet interior alone.  So, I grabbed myself a little soft blue paint and went to town.  It ended up taking about three coats, but I adore the cheerful pop of blue when you open the chest!
Inside of trunk is blue
 
I’m so thrilled with the end result.  Sometimes I go in with a perfect plan and other times, I have a plan and it completely changes halfway through.  I’m learning to be okay with changing plans… I could use a little more “go with the flow” in my life!
 
You can see how I use this gorgeous painted chest in my current creative office refresh.
 
 
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