Dome top trunk

I am super excited about my $60 buy, this trunk is in rough shape but what wouldn't be if it's over 100 years old? So I did a little research with the patents that are on the hardware of the trunk and most of these trunks were made between the late 1800's to the early 1900's.

This trunk had an old receipt stuck in the bottom slats of the trunk that was from a dry goods store in Missouri that was stamp dated paid in April of 1909. It also has the name, of whom I'm guessing was a former owner of the trunk, Mrs. Susie A Johnston.

Originally I thought I was going to redo this whole thing...until I got it out to my car and realized that most of it is tin plating on the outside. I definitely have to replace the bottom and take off some old scrap metal that looked to be used to repair the bottom of the trunk. The sides did have leather straps to be able to carry the trunk but they are broken. The inside also is supposed to have this victorian picture on the top, that's half missing, and there's supposed to be this tray that sits on the bottom part of the trunk that's missing too. It's lined with some type of paper that's coming off. I also need to fix the side hinge otherwise the top of the trunk could fall backwards.

I got this trunk to store my blankets in, my mom had one in our living room growing up and since then I've always wanted one of my own. Her's was definitely newer but I'm still in love with the one I got. I think it will be going in my bedroom though ;) Just wanted to share, wish me luck on the semi-restoration process.

There was another gentleman who restored a similar trunk, I'm not going that far into the restoration process but he did a great job, If you want to check it out his blog is: johnmarkpower.blogspot.com

Well, it's been a couple months since I got the dome top trunk. For my birthday, my dad got me cedar planks to line the inside of the trunk so I can use it for blanket storage. I'm so excited to take this home! He's doing an amazing job getting everything installed. I'm one spoiled girl!

November update:

My dad brought back some old horse reigns (I think that's what they are) from my cousins house. They are leather and stiff as a board. I used this leather treatment spray and most of it has become more flexible...but this will be perfect to replace the broken straps on the trunk.