Blanket Chest - Refinished

A couple of years ago (three, precisely), Nate went up to Eureka Springs for Christmas while I stayed in Houston, and he came back with a blanket chest. His parents had bought it from another artist at an art show, probably in trade. It had spent several years in a storage unit and had significant water damage.

I started sanding it down by hand, but got tired after 10 minutes. And so it sat, partially sanded, for another 30 months.

My mom recently took it off of my hands and stripped it in no time. She returned it to me at the end of September. I've been a terrible procrastinator on these types of projects (see the kitchen table that remains half done 5 years later), I was determined - determined, I tell you - to finish this project. I had already bought a can of stain-and-varnish and so I set out to refinish my first piece of furniture.

The whole thing took so little time it's embarrassing that it took me almost three years to complete it. I used two coats, each of which took less than 20 minutes. I started on Saturday, and it was completely done on the following Wednesday. I did the bottom first, then the top, and then the rim.

Here's the completed thing. Hurray! A place for our blankets.