Painted Sewing Box

I received a really lovely sewing box for Christmas 2014:

However, although I had specifically asked for a sewing box I didn't really like the design of the one I was given.  So, I decided to paint it!  

It was my first time painting anything like this, but I really enjoyed it and I think it was a really good idea to make it feel like mine.  Now, not only is it a a lovely gift I received, it's something I can be proud of, and it gave me hours of pleasure creating something new.  So all in all, it was a very welcome gift.

Here's how I did it:

First of all, I made a rough sketch of the box and drew some design ideas to find something attractive and easy to paint.  I bought acrylic paint in the colours I wanted when I decided on what I wanted the box to look like.

Once I'd chosen my design, I sanded down the box to get rid of most of the paint work already on the box.  I used two different sandpaper blocks.  The first one had a bigger grit than the second one to get the paint off.  The second one I used had a smaller grit to smooth the box before painting.  

Remember to use a dust mask when you're sanding!











Next I painted the box in grey.  It needed two or three coats, so this part took a while as I had to let each coat dry before doing the next.

I propped open the doors of the top compartment with jam jars overnight to let it dry without sticking shut. 

I decided to leave the inside of the box white, so I used masking tape around the edges to create a neat line, and I put tape on the glass to keep it clean.  








I then painted my design free-hand.  










This part wasn't easy, but since I'm not a talented painter, I tried not to be too "perfectionist" about it.  I had to go over some areas more than once.  It turned out fairly well. 

Then I painted on the leaves of the trees. 
















I painted some of the leaves in the colour of the acrylic I'd bought, and mixed white to each colour afterwards to do leaves in a lighter shade.












Sometimes I had to go over the leaves more than once.















And then I painted each of the draw knobs in a colour from each of the trees.











My top tips to someone doing a project like this for the first time:

• Design something really simple
• Don't expect it to be perfect
• Be patient; allow the paint to dry properly before each coat and take time to take care of the little details, making sure the use masking tape if necessary for neat edges etc...
• If you're not using the paint straight from the bottle (ie adding white or another colour to it), make more of it than you think you'll need as it's hard to create the same shade if you run out

I enjoyed this project so much that I decided to try painting some other boxes, so look out for upcoming posts about those!