Vintage Suitcase Makeover

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Betsy here from a little place called Happily Ever After, Etc.! I am so excited that Kendra has  invited me over to share my fun little vintage suitcase makeover with all of you!

So where do  we begin? I am a newlywed gal with a passion for all things home decor and crafty… and I  usually find some way to drag my hubby into my crazy projects!

Like my 2015 Housekeeping  Binder or our adorable DIY Elephant Toothbrush Holder!

Recently he helped me clean the  entire house for a fabulous Spring Home Tour! 😉

If you’re anything like me you are loving the vintage suitcase trend that’s going on right now.

I tend to be drawn towards anything that contains things (read as: stores all my crap out of sight) so vintage suitcases are perfect for me!

In addition to larger suitcases I have found adorable children’s suitcases, hat boxes… even a vintage bowling ball bag!

The key (for me) is finding that perfect colored bag… the one that looks amazing with all the rest of my pretty things (read as: hoards of useless antiques that aren’t really useful but I need to have anyways).

Of course it’s hard to find suitcases in baby blue and cream… not impossible but hard! It’s much easier to find old beaten up, scuffed up suitcases in need of a little TLC!

I have never tried painting a suitcase before but I figured… what’s the harm?

So I went to my local antique store and found the perfect  suitcase! A teeny little make up box in light yellow… the exterior was actually in great shape and might look great in a home that used more yellow.

In my home it looked a bit more washed out cream then yellow. Either way it was only ten bucks so I didn’t feel bad painting it!

So let’s get started! The only things you need for this project are:

Supplies:

Paint in your color choice (pick pink! I want to see a pink one!)

Paint brushes in varying sizes if you plan on adding a quote.

Frog tape for taping off crisp clean lines.

That’s it! Didn’t expect it to be so short did you? I like to surprise people… I’m fun that way.

The first thing I did was tape off the entire bottom of my suitcase.

I wanted the hardware to stay it’s original color and I wanted to paint each section a different color for a striped effect.

Once it was taped off I took this little cutey outside and spray painted the top stripe and the handle with a looking glass finish spray paint.

I wasn’t sure I would like the shiny finish but I had some paint left over from my Mirrored Mason Jars and didn’t want to buy more paint for a little suitcase… I figured if I didn’t like it I could always paint over it!

But if you’ve known me for five seconds you know I’m a sparkle freak… so I LOVED the shiny finish!

So I decided to run with it and bought little bottles of metallic finish craft paint for my lettering… since they were only 1.47 a bottle I thought it was worth the splurge ;).

After the first section dried I removed the frog tape, taped off the top and painted the bottom stripe!

(Again using leftover seafoam paint from my dresser reveal).

Then I painted the middle stripe.

All of this painting took a while but I was able to watch several episodes of Once Upon a Time while waiting… so it wasn’t too bad!

Once the stripes were painted I printed off a copy of my quote: in this case my blog logo from Happily Ever After, Etc. I went back and forth about it for a while… but in the end I just thought it fit this little suitcase best.

I’m looking forward to seeing it NOT on my computer every day!

To transfer my logo I used the old trace the letters on the backside of your paper with pencil and then rub on the front side of the paper trick.

It transferred the lettering like a charm… then all that was left was filling in the logo with paint!

I choose a small paint brush and very carefully painted the letters and wax seal… twice. I wanted to make sure they looked crisp and sharp.

I love how it turned out! I was a little iffy on the color scheme at first but I think it looks just like spring!

What do y’all think… is painting suitcases up your alley?

I’d love to see more!

Thanks for following along y’all! I am so glad Kendra let me hang out with you today!

If you’re looking for more projects from little old me check out Happily Ever After, Etc.!

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