The Box

This box has such a funny story, and I'm still procrastinating about finishing the weatherproofing in my studio, I just have to share even though this is from a couple of months ago when cleaning out garages was actually enjoyable and would not have given me frostbite.

This is not actually my box.  It came from my friend's garage, her husband did not want to part with it.  For the sake of anonymity, I'll call him "Brighton."  I wish I had had the foresight to take a picture of the box when I first acquired it--it was horrible and Brighton's wife wanted it out of her garage.  I am allowed to keep it only on the condition that Brighton never sees it in its improved state.

The box was nasty, full of old tools and mouse droppings.  My kids, who usually love to find a good trash pick, turned up their noses and said, "what are you going to do with that?"  Throwing "antiques" out would be wrong, even though I'm pretty sure it had little value because of its condition.  And I absolutely love the fact that the Atlas beer company felt the need to advertise that they have "TEN PHONES."

It had a lot of dried epoxy paint splatters which I couldn't remove without taking out some of the writing, so I sanded off what I could with my orbital sander and then painted a simple sunset over the rest.  Stain over the top completed its aged appearance.  I like the triptych appearance of the sunset, the painting looks like it has rubbed off over time.  I actually painted the sunset to match the wet bar in our basement...now I just have to remember to hide it whenever "Brighton" comes over for a drink...