Vintage Suitcases Two Ways

Like many first time home buyers, when we bought our fixer-up starter home - actually a townhouse - we were a bit house poor. After moving in I threw myself into renovating the main floor, which was a depressing shade of beige, and spent the first year in our home spending my weekends spackling, sanding, painting and wallpapering.

Only after emerging from my haze of renovation madness did I realize we were missing some of the finishing touches in terms of furniture. The space was much better, but not quite complete.

I had a kind of nebulous plan for filling in those gaps - an antique cabinet that I inherited from a close family friends, which I converted into a bar cart, and a baker's rack that my Mom scored from a yard sale in Florida that managed to survive the truck ride up to Canada with only some mild damage to its iron legs.

But, the major furniture refurbishment project was to turn a set of vintage suitcases I'd purchased long before we married into a side table, coffee table, and cat bed. The side table is still a bit in progress, as we want to put a detailed diorama inside of it, but I have managed to bring my coffee table and cat bed vintage suitcase fever dream to life.

These suitcases started out with a few tears in their lids, and moldy smelling burnt orange sateen lining. I wanted to use the larger suitcase for blanket storage, and definitely didn't want our sofa blankets to take on the smell of mold - so I started by ripping out the lining, giving it a good scrub and letting it air out overnight. Once the cleansing was complete, I added a new lining - vintage leaf patterned fabric in a similar orange color that I inherited from my grandmother.

I glued the fabric in using mod podge, then added a lace tape over the raw edges of the fabric to give the interior a clean, finished look.

For the lid of the suitcase, so I added a a cute fox and rabbit themed fabric from Noveau Bohemian called friendship in the field. I bought this fabric ages ago, thinking I would like to use it for something, but it sat so long that this particular pattern is now discontinued. However, I love this particular fabric designer and her work will definitely make another appearance in my home!

I felt like the fabric needed a little sparkle, so I added flecks of gold leaf, and sealed the whole thing with a coat of mod podge. I sealed the lid with a coat of Benjamin Moore Stays Clear sealer, which was leftover from painting our kitchen cabinets, and finished the lid off with a scalloped gold trim that I've had in my stash of materials for years. It came in a set of three different trims, and I used the other trims in the set but had no idea what to do with the gold scalloped trim until using it on this project - it's nice when things come together like that.

I ordered the claw feet online, and they were the most expensive part of this project - I spent about $30 on them. They were not gold when I got them, but plain wood, so I sanded them down, painted them gold, gave 'em a coat of sealer, then used some very long screws to attach them to the suitcase.

My cat, like most cats, has a fondness for napping. She's not really a connoiseur of boxes persay, preferring trees and corrugated cardboard platforms on which to nap, but a few months before I started this project I took out this small suitcase, set it in an inconspicuous place, and started encouraging the cat to sit in it - just to make sure she would actually use it before I went through with converting it into a cat bed.

After seeing the cat nap in the suitcase a few times, I figured it was good to go and began working on Miss Hissabelle's new throne. After removing the old lining and getting it cleaned up, I added a few layers of cotton batting to the bottom of the box. I've noticed that as Isabelle has gotten older, she prefers sleeping on soft surfaces, and thought she might appreciate a little padding.

I relined the suitcase with a bright pink and white polka dot cotton flannel and matching pink lace tape edge binding. The top of the lid I decided to leave plain, since it didn't have any major tears or damage, but thought the inside of the lid needed a little bit of decoration to liven it up - after all the suitcase is meant to stay open.

I've always thought of my cat as a princess, and she certainly thinks of herself as one - so the crown was a perfect touch. The crown and the ornate gold frame I bought in a lot of frames from a local artisan who was clearing up some of their stash. The miniature apple wreath I brought home with me from Japan after finishing my teaching stint in Yokohama. I love apples, and thought it would make a good balance to the portrait of myself and the cat.

Speaking of that portrait - I commissioned it from artist and calligrapher Schin Loong at an anime convention more than a decade ago! I'm so glad to have finally found the perfect home for it.

Turning these suitcases into custom, quirky pieces of furniture was an inexpensive and fun way to make our house feel more like a home. The only things I ended up buying to complete these projects were an extra large canister of mod podge (matte finish), the claw feet, some screws, and a few additional rolls of lace tape. Everything else I already had on hand from previous art projects and renovation work. Sometimes my instinct to hoard random bits of craft supply works out.

I love buying new things, but there is something so satisfying about breathing new life into something old, damaged, or that has outlived its intended use. If you've got an upcycling project that you've been wanting to work on, I hope this gives you some encouragement - if I can do it you can too!