Excess Baggage

At an estate auction the other day,

I had my eye on a cute little green suitcase - the one on top in the photo.

There were 4 suitcases there - the 3 green ones plus a worn brown one.

I really only wanted the small green one, but when it came up for bid,

the auctioneer lumped all 4 suitcases together.

I went ahead and bid and won all 4 of them for the bargain price of $3 for all.

I went ahead and listed the 3 green ones in my Etsy shop,

and they sold within 15 minutes, but I wasn't sure what to do with the brown one.

The interior lining was badly rotted and the outside was unpleasantly dinged up.

I seriously thought about just dumping it in the burn pile,

but I also got a mountain of vintage books (4 boxes) at the same auction,

so I decided I had nothing to lose, so I'd try improving the appearance of the suitcase.

As usual, I forgot to take a picture before I began.

First I tore out the rotten lining.

I choose an antique dictionary to line the inside,

because the pages had aged so beautifully, despite the fact

that some insect had eaten a hole through the whole book.

It took nearly an entire bottle of Modge Podge to put all the pages in

and add a sealer coat, but I was pleasantly surprised with the results.

The inside looked so much better, but the outside as still pretty bad.

I added some Valspar Antique Glaze to it.

Now the "scars" look great and the whole suitcase

has a perfect aged look.

I seriously love it now and am so glad

I didn't consider it excess baggage and burn it!

Linking to these parties this week...

  

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