1976 LANE CEDAR CHEST

I picked this up at a garage sale for $20. The seller told me it belonged to a man who left the area 10 years ago and she hasn't seen him since. She decided to put it outside in the hot desert of southern CA for several years, exposing it to the elements and heat.

As you can see, it was in pieces and had no legs at all. The inside was filled with (JACKPOT) 4 wedding gowns. Two were so badly mildewed that I threw them away. The other 2 were fine. To me, this was a GREAT find as I take old bridal gowns, cut them up and make baby Christening/Baptism gowns that will be sold with the money given to an organization that pays for breast cancer screenings for women and men who can't afford it and have no ins. So, the contents were a gold mine to me.

Back to the chest itself...

My husband bought wood from Lowes and set about the task of making the missing legs (I had pulled up a pic of this off the net so he had a guide...which didn't help) so he made his own version. The molding was missing on the left side and the other two pieces that go below the molding were also missing on both sides. Thank God we had the front piece of decorative wood.

He made the legs, replaced the missing molding and made the two pieces needed and put it all together.

I then sanded down everything, took off the hardware and used paint designed for metal to refinish it. I cleaned the inside as best as I could without using water. I then stained the entire piece and put a coat of satin finish polyeurathane on it and reattached the decorative handles, etc.

The end result is stunning and my beautiful daughter-in-law is the lucky recipient of this gorgeous piece.

It's hard to believe that it was once a piece of junk sitting out in the Mojave Desert...for years...now it serves a purpose.