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    Home » DIY

    Little Red Tool Box

    By: Jane · Updated: 15 Mar, '12 · This post may contain affiliate links · 20 Comments

    Sharing is caring!

    See this little red toolbox? It has a new paint job. Before I painted it, it had a light brown stain. I don't have a "before" picture, but use your imagination. It was just a typical handmade tool box before I rescued it.

    Tablerunner 071

     

    I didn't paint it for a few months because I couldn't decide on a color. But after seeing another blogger's red tool box, I knew what color it would be.

    Tablerunner 007

    Plaster of Paris is the foundation of our paint.

    Tablerunner 004

    Mix ½ cup of Plaster of Paris with ½ cup hot water. Then I added 1 ½ cups of flat latex paint. The shade I started with was Silk Lining by Valspar.

    Tablerunner 003

    Here's the tool box after one coat of our homemade chalk paint. The paint had a very chalky look to it and was lighter in color than we wanted. So if you decide to create some of your own chalk paint, take into consideration that the Plaster of Paris is going to lighten your paint. So to darken it we added some Red Clay craft paint.  That wasn't the color we wanted either, so we added a lot of red semi-gloss paint that Jean already had.

    Tablerunner 011

    Now we had a beautiful, custom color!

    Tablerunner 056

    After applying Annie Sloan clear and dark waxes,  I ModPodged a little graphic I found onto my box.

    Tablerunner 082

    I put some strawberry plants into my box to use it as a centerpiece in a tablescape, which I just love.

    I love my little red tool box!

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    1. Ricki JIll Treleaven

      March 15, 2012 at 7:23 am

      I love this project. Red is my favorite color, and the graphic with the strawberry plants are so cute together!

      Linking from Random Thoughts 😀

      xo,
      Ricki Jill

      Reply
    2. Carlene @ Oganized Clutter

      March 14, 2012 at 6:13 pm

      I am going to try homemade chalkpaint with grout soon. I hope I can get my color to turn out. It looks like your projects turned out in the end!

      Reply
    3. Dee

      March 14, 2012 at 4:56 pm

      Beautiful! I love the color of the toolbox - the tip on how you did it and the sweet graphic.

      Dee

      Reply
    4. Shirley

      March 14, 2012 at 4:14 pm

      Jane, te ha quedado fabulosa la caja con ese color rojo tiza, va muy bien con la mata de fresa, hará un buen contraste con el verde.

      Reply
    5. Shirley

      March 14, 2012 at 4:12 pm

      Jane, te ha quedado muy bien la caja con ese color, y va de maravilla con la mata de fresas, buen contraste con el verde. Saludos

      Reply
    6. Liz @ Infuse With Liz

      March 14, 2012 at 8:15 am

      Awesome job!
      I've never tried the chalk paint but it does look interesting!
      The strawberry plant looks perfect in there!

      Reply
    7. Audrey

      March 14, 2012 at 7:41 am

      Love, love, love your RED toolbox, Jane!

      Reply
    8. [email protected] Porch Musings

      March 14, 2012 at 7:00 am

      It looks wonderful, Jane! I love the custom color and the decoupage.

      Reply
    9. [email protected] Designs

      March 14, 2012 at 6:54 am

      Jane, I so admired that box on your previous post...it looks so great on your table with that beautiful runner...

      Reply
    10. Anne

      March 14, 2012 at 6:54 am

      I love your custom colour!!! Thanks for your tips, they will be really helpful for my next paint project 🙂

      xox

      Reply
    11. Gina

      March 14, 2012 at 6:31 am

      I love this, Jane! The color is wonderful! The graphic was the perfect finishing touch and who wouldn't love the sweet strawberry plants? Thanks for sharing this at my party!

      Reply
    12. debbie

      March 14, 2012 at 6:24 am

      I love it Jane. I could kick myself in the teeth. A few weeks ago I saw a cool old rusty red tool box at Goodwill. Had it in my cart and I thought Mike won't use this. MIKE, what about me, the cute things I could have done with it.

      Reply
    13. Dolly Sarrio

      March 14, 2012 at 4:09 am

      I sure love what you did with the box!!!! The color is very pretty and anything strawberry I love, my favorite fruit and worked in strawberry field over twenty years....I hope I can find a box and copy you I do like it!
      Dolly

      Reply
    14. michelle

      March 13, 2012 at 11:42 pm

      It looks great. I love the idea of putting strawberry plants in it.

      Reply
    15. Kelly @ Eclectically Vintage

      March 13, 2012 at 11:31 pm

      Love it with the little strawberry plants! I need to mix up some of that paint - it's fab!
      Kelly

      Reply
    16. Pam @ diy Design Fanatic

      March 13, 2012 at 10:30 pm

      It's really pretty! I love that shade of red!

      Reply
    17. Sweet Bee Cottage

      March 13, 2012 at 9:27 pm

      Love that red! What a gorgeous color! They both turned out fabulous. I've been toying with this homemade chalk paint idea for a while, but I haven't done it yet. You've given me some great inspiration.

      Reply
    18. Carol

      March 13, 2012 at 10:26 pm

      Love your red tool box! I have an old planter that looks like a tool box that was just given to me. I think it's going to be red! Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
    19. Rondell

      March 13, 2012 at 9:19 pm

      I love it too, such a neat color, I've tried the homemade chalkpaint but just with Cottage White. I have to try a color to it now after seeing how great yours turned out! Love the idea of strawberries planted in it!

      Reply

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