Restoring an Old Chest: a DIY

    My in-laws bought us this gorgeous chest at a yard sale a few weeks ago. They bought it knowing it needed a lot of work and I was excited at the challenge. Today, we started working on it, and it was super easy!  I had planned on painting the top, refinishing the sides, and glueing the few pieces back together  that needed it.  I was a little stumped on how I was going to paint the top and make it look good without painting the rest of it since I absolutely love the color of the wood and didn't want to paint over any part that did not need it.

    While Josh nailed and glued the pieces that needed it, I decided to try coconut oil on the wood.  In the past, I have used coconut oil to fix heat spots on my table and it worked perfectly so I decided to try it on this as well. I started rubbing coconut oil on the top, and we were both amazed at the results!

    This is what the top looked like before the coconut oil:

    And after:

      After seeing how well it did on the top, I started rubbing coconut oil over the whole thing to even it out and give it a fresh look. After letting it sit for maybe 10 minutes, I used a bucket of water and washcloth and cleaned off the coconut oil residue.  

    The inside had this little shelf in it that also needed some redoing.

So I grabbed some fabric and fabric glue, and glued the fabric to the bottom. It turned out great, as well!  

     We both really love this chest now! I am glad I didn't have to paint the top so now we can see every scratch that adds so much character!  

P.S. I usually buy virgin coconut oil because it is better for you, but since this project took a lot of coconut oil, I simply used regular coconut oil. It's cheaper and it still did a great job!