Some time ago I came into possession of this vintage blue lunchbox.
I rather liked it ‘as is’. The blue was perfect, and it had just the right amount of authentic wear.
But I thought I should give it a good clean and that’s where things went a little wrong. I started to wipe it down with a damp rag and some Dawn dish soap and the blue paint was coming off on the rag. So then I thought I should just give it a quick coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat to seal it in.
Unfortunately, the flat clear coat looked a bit filmy over that blue. That can happen sometimes when you use the flat version over a dark color.
So back to the workshop it went. Since I loved that blue so much, I decided to stick with it and give the lunchbox a quick couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Bunker Hill Blue.
It was a pretty good match for that original color.
I sanded the edges to try and bring back that distressed look.
After wiping away the dust, I added a white transfer from I.O.D.’s Traditional Pots.
I followed that up with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.
I love the little stars on the sides of the lunchbox.
It wasn’t until I was editing the photos for this post that I realized I really needed to put some sort of decorative paper in that label holder.
I ended up going with a simple red gingham after determining that my October Afternoon Farm Girl labels were too big.
Bummer, they would have been so perfect if they were the right size.
While I was at it, I also lined the inside of the lunchbox with some of that gingham paper.
This lunchbox would make an adorable decoration for a 4th of July table if you left the lid open and placed a couple of small potted red geraniums in it.
Despite not actually being able to save the original blue paint on the lunchbox, I think I did a pretty good job replicating it.
What do you think?
Although this lunchbox was available at my sale, it did not go. So it’s still available if any of you locals happen to need a fun 4th of July table decoration! Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.
I’m off to spend this rainy 4th of July morning finishing up the clean up out in the carriage house. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some projects going out there despite the forecast of rain, rain, and then probably some more rain. I hope some of you are getting the perfect day for a BBQ!