Carpenters Tool Box - Flea Market Flip

My sister bought this great tool box at a flea market over the summer. The inside was stinky and dirty, kind of musty smelling from sitting in someones garage for far too long.
After a little negotiating, I talked my sister into lending me her tool box for a makeover.
I loved the little drawers and I really was dying to get my hands on it. I did have to promise to give it back when I was finished. It looked like such a fun project, and with very little prodding she actually agreed.

My first thought was to make it into a wall mounted little desk that would fold down to open, but the box didn't open flat and I thought I would destroy the toolbox if I just started cutting. Instead of giving it back, I went onto plan B...a coffee table. The top, where the handle is now, would become the side of the coffee table.





If I turned the tool box on it's side, the drawers would no longer be usable. The drawers would have to go, along with the other pieces of randomly placed wood pieces that were on top.





After scrubbing out the inside, I painted it with this beautiful blue chalk paint.
I'm not real crazy about the white piano hinge and that was eventually painted black.





For the legs, I was going to use premade legs available from the big box stores, but since I had a few spindles leftover that had been rescued from the theatre props room way back in June, I decided to use them instead. They were cut off below the last knob and painted with black chalk paint.





The outside of the toolbox was stained, then given a few coats of tung oil. The oddly colored white piano hinge was given a coat of semigloss black paint. Knob and handles are from Hobby Lobby.





Last step was to attach the drawers to the inside of the toolbox with finishing nails. The drawers are elevated off the bottom for added storage. They no longer function as drawers, but will now be fixed storage compartments.





I know you want to see more pictures and for the complete tutorial come and visit me over at Scavenger Chic.






Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/12327525/carpenters-tool-box-flea-market-flip-repurposed-to-table site