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.

Here’s how the box looked before:

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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

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.

I painted the outside stripes first.

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.

Then I just had to pull the tape up.

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 …

… 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.

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.

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. 🙂

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

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

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