Toy Chest

One of my goals this year is to learn how to re-finish furniture so that I can develop a new talent, and also stock the house with "up-cycled" furniture at a reduced cost.  My sister Emily is a pro at it, so she has been guiding and helping me over the phone (thanks Emily -- I'm sure it will not be the last time I bug you about re-finishing furniture).

One of my first projects was a toy chest.  My neighbor actually gave it to me and I decided to re-paint it and put it in our family room so that I could get rid of the ugly boxes wrapped in wrapping paper (that were starting to rip and tear making them look dreadful).

Here is the before photo:

Here is the after photo (the design was actually Nathan's idea):