free toy box

Remember how I posted last week on the toy box I re-did? Well, pretty much right after I finished it Drew and I were going to visit my mom and my grandparents (they were visiting from Florida) and I found this enormous toy box / bench on the end of her street. It was begging for a makeover because it was such high quality wood... just in really bad condition... There hasn't been a makeover yet, but I just wanted to show the before photos.

If you remember, here was my initial vision for the toy box:



Here is what I found, I put it in Drew's room for the photos so I could get a feel for how it would fit. It has a hideous vinyl top with a yellow terry cloth upholstered seat under the vinyl. I have since taken off all the upholstery and had AJ remove the top (two of those screws were on way too tight for me to get them to budge). I'll sand down the box, remove the applique and stain it a darker color. I want the imperfections of the wood to show through and I'm definitely keeping the metal side pieces. I love the sort of industrial look.

And as for Drew, I don't think he cared too much about what I was working on in his room... he was too busy: