Painted grain sack stripes on a vintage thread box

I gave a thrifted thread box a makeover with chalk painted grain sack stripes this week.

vintage thread box with painted grain sack stripes

Here’s how the box looked before:

handmade wooden thread case

With the black and white color scheme and painted grain sack stripes, this little case finally has an exterior worthy of what’s inside.

What’s inside?

Now that I’ve got you wondering what’s on the inside, let me show you.

handmade wooden thread storage box

Isn’t it purdy? 🌈 🧵 😄

The thread came with the box.

Each spool is on a spindle. The spindles are attached to one of four pieces of wood, and each piece of wood is attached by hinges that can be flipped out to access the spools in that row.

handmade wooden thread case with handle

Genius, right?

And best of all, the box is two-sided. The other side has three rows instead of four, so it can accommodate larger spools.

homemade thread storage box

That side only came with one spool of thread in it, but I’m not complaining. I’ve got plenty of my own spools that I can fill it with. And it’s easier to see how the rows flip out when they’re empty:

homemade plywood thread case

Now on to the makeover …

Painted grain sack stripe makeover

I started with a couple of coats of my go-to paint: Rust-Oleum Chalked in charcoal.

Rust-Oleum Chalked paint in Charcoal

I wanted the box to retain its aged appearance, so I did a pretty quick paint job, leaving some of the raw edges (where the beige paint had chipped off) exposed.

vintage thread case painted black

Then I measured and marked lines for the stripes, using a white colored pencil.

vintage thread box with stripes marked out with white pencil lines

To make painting easier, I taped off the lines with painter’s tape. Then I painted in between the tape with Rust-Oleum Chalked in linen white.

painting white grain sack stripes on black box

I painted the outside stripes first.

removing painters tape from white grain sack stripes on wooden box

The paint dried really quickly, so I was able to just keep moving my the tape from one set of lines to the next.

After I had all the outside stripes done, I taped off the thicker inside stripes …

… and painted them.

painting grain sack stripes on black thread box

Then I just had to pull the tape up.

removing tape from painted grain sack stripes on vintage thread case

After a few quick touchups, I was ready to apply wax to protect the paint and finish the piece off.

Sealing the chalk paint

Unfortunately, I had used all of my clear wax up on the vintage secretary desk makeover I did a couple weeks ago, and I didn’t want to run to the store to buy more, so I used what I had …

hemp oil bottle in front of vintage black and white thread box

… which was hemp oil. Previously, I had only used hemp oil on bare wood, and I loved how it soaked into the wood and revived those pieces.

applying hemp oil to vintage thread box

Using it over chalk paint was similar. I just spread it on with a rag and then let it sit and soak into the wood. The surface was still a little oily an hour later, so I wiped off the excess at that point.

vintage thread box with painted grain sack stripes

The hemp oil really brightened up the piece and made the black look richer. I’ll definitely be using it again on chalk painted projects.

Another completed makeover

And there you have it: another completed project. 🙂

vintage thread case with painted grain sack stripes

I didn’t even have to remove the thread from the box to do this makeover.

handmade thread box

Big improvement over its beige beginning, wouldn’t you say? And it fits in with my other black and white boxes now.

Stack of black and white wooden boxes

Thanks for reading! Do you do Pinterest? If so, follow me! I have a board dedicated to grain sack stripes and lots of others full of inspiring crafts, DIY projects, upcycling ideas, holiday decorating, vintage decor and more!

Lisa

4 Replies to “Painted grain sack stripes on a vintage thread box”

  1. I would have squealed out loud with delight if I had stumbled across this thread box. I NEED one of these in my life! I love how you upcycled it with pretty grain sack stripes. So pretty – so functional.

    1. Truth be told, I did squeal when I found the thread box! And the woman standing behind me in the thrift store gasped when she saw me open it. She and I ended up having a short conversation about the treasures you sometimes find when you’re thrifting, and I know she wished she had found the thread box before me.

  2. I love these old makeshift boxes where someone totally took the time to create a custom piece to solve their storage challenges! And love how you refreshed it. I’ve got a roadside box very similar to this; now I know what I can do with it…grainsack stripes!

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