Painting Naomi’s Trunk & Mikah’s Box

Naomi was given this trunk by Jeff’s mom for her birthday, or perhaps it was Christmas. I am pretty sure the idea was that the box was so nice that it was worth giving to her (she really wanted a trunk) even though she might not love the color.

For some weeks now, Naomi has been asking me if we could repaint it. I promised yes and every day she has asked me if this could be the day. I am a bad mom. I kept saying no. Today she informed me that she was going to get the paints out and would I just get her started painting midnight blue over the red (she’d already picked out the color, so I wouldn’t have to do anything). I sighed and said yes. Now I’m not only a bad mom, but a guilty-feeling one. She painted the outside midnight blue (with almost no help from me) and did a beautiful job.

By then, I was more than a little excited about the project, too. This is what always happens to me when there’s a craft project around. And this is one nice little trunk, red or not. Instead of putting off the decorative painting for another day, I became a good mom and joined in the fun!

We talked over colors and decided on light blue violets, with midnight blue centers (to match the trunk color) with green leaves and blue scrollwork. The initials were the final touch and I loved Naomi’s idea to put the dots in between the letters. Once it dries, we will spray a gloss varnish on it. I wish I had matte varnish, but I don’t.

By now, Mikah too wanted to join the fun. He picked out a (junky) wood box and asked to paint it. I didn’t even sigh when I said yes to him.

Look at the colors he picked — doesn’t he have an eye for it? Brown on the outside, green on the inside. And who showed him that his initials in red would look really, really good?