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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

Rustic Blue Box Paint Refresh

Sunday, September 8, 2019



A rustic blue trunk on my back porch needed repainting with an exterior paint to protect it from further damage from the weather. New paint refreshed the looks of the box we use as a coffee table / serving table. 


Rustic blue box on back porch has a new coat of exterior blue paint
The new paint color is a little lighter than the previous paint, and I may add a darker coat of blue to the box later. The most important thing is getting the box painted with an exterior paint before Fall and Winter rains set in. 

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R U S T I C   B L U E   B O X   

P A I N T   R E F R E S H  


 B E F O R E 


Take a look at how the blue trunk looked at the beginning of summer. The paint was peeling and flaking badly, down to the bare wood. 



Rustic blue box on back porch was badly damaged from exposure to the weather
Several readers liked how the rustic box looked, but the paint continued to peel with every new rainy day. 



Rustic blue box on back porch with puddle of water on top
The back porch has a roof, but rain often blows in all the way to the French doors. Rain puddled on top of the box causing further damage. 



Rustic blue box on back porch shows paint flaked off to bare wood on all sides and top
I bought the box at a yard sale years ago and used it inside the house until the back porch was replaced and a roof was added. There are several coats of paint that have flaked off, and bare wood was visible on the top and all of the sides. 

If the wood box had been left unprotected, the wood would have begun to rot from all the moisture. 



One option to protect a rustic blue box on back porch was to seal the box with a clear protective top coat
One option was to seal the original chippy layers of paint with a protective clear topcoat. With so much of the paint gone, I decided a fresh overall coat of paint would be best to get a coat of blue color. 



A F T E R 


Since the original paint had flaked so badly, I think the trunk had been painted with interior paint originally, and for each new layer over time, not with exterior paint. 



The first step to protect the rustic blue box was to scrape off flaking paint
To get full coverage, the first step was to scrape off any remaining flaking paint. Then the box was painted with a primer before adding the top coat of blue paint shown.  



After allowing primer paint to dry twenty four hours, a coat of exterior blue paint was applied to the rustic box
We allowed the primer to dry for twenty-four hours before applying an exterior paint, with satin finish, to the box. The box still has a lot of character, just no longer chippy. 

The color is lighter than the original blue. Most likely I will add another layer of deeper blue to the trunk later this Fall. One coat of top paint gave good, complete coverage. A second coat of paint, darker blue, will provide even better protection from the weather. 



Raise a rustic blue box off the porch floor with paver stones
We placed the trunk on brick pavers to raise it about two inches from the porch floor. This will help water drain away from the bottom of the box instead of allowing the box to sit in water. 

The couple of extra inches of height also makes it easier to reach  over the Adirondack chair arms to the top of the trunk. 



A blue melamine serving tray is a good to use outside on the rustic blue box
Of course, the fun part is decorating and styling the box. I found the dark blue serving tray at Hobby Lobby two to three years ago and have often used it on the blue trunk. The tray is melamine which makes it good for outdoor use. 

I do use glass dishes outside on the porch and decks, but the tray's color and price were too good to pass up. 



Ivy heart shaped topiary in a blue clay pot goes with the new blue paint on a rustic box
Ivy is potted in a clay pot I painted almost the same shade of blue five or six years ago. By using the same basic color palette over the years, old things always go with new things. 

The heart shaped wire for training the ivy into a topiary is from an old ivy topiary that died. 



Style a rustic blue box with a wire candleholder to use after darkCandlelight from a rustic wire candle holder will be nice for sitting on the porch after dark when the weather cools down. 



Fresh blue exterior paint protects a rustic trunk used as a coffee table on a back porch
Summer is winding down. Fall and Winter rains will come. I am happy the little rustic blue trunk has fresh exterior paint to protect it. 


S O U R C E  

Behr Paint - Exterior, Satin - Color is Glass Sapphire