A rustic blue trunk on my back porch needed repainting with an exterior paint to protect it from further damage from the weather. New paint refreshed the looks of the box we use as a coffee table / serving table.
The new paint color is a little lighter than the previous paint, and I may add a darker coat of blue to the box later. The most important thing is getting the box painted with an exterior paint before Fall and Winter rains set in.
Readers who receive my posts as an email should click on the title of the post in the email to continue reading the entire article.
R U S T I C B L U E B O X
P A I N T R E F R E S H
B E F O R E
Take a look at how the blue trunk looked at the beginning of summer. The paint was peeling and flaking badly, down to the bare wood.
Several readers liked how the rustic box looked, but the paint continued to peel with every new rainy day.
The back porch has a roof, but rain often blows in all the way to the French doors. Rain puddled on top of the box causing further damage.
I bought the box at a yard sale years ago and used it inside the house until the back porch was replaced and a roof was added. There are several coats of paint that have flaked off, and bare wood was visible on the top and all of the sides.
If the wood box had been left unprotected, the wood would have begun to rot from all the moisture.
One option was to seal the original chippy layers of paint with a protective clear topcoat. With so much of the paint gone, I decided a fresh overall coat of paint would be best to get a coat of blue color.
A F T E R
Since the original paint had flaked so badly, I think the trunk had been painted with interior paint originally, and for each new layer over time, not with exterior paint.
To get full coverage, the first step was to scrape off any remaining flaking paint. Then the box was painted with a primer before adding the top coat of blue paint shown.
We allowed the primer to dry for twenty-four hours before applying an exterior paint, with satin finish, to the box. The box still has a lot of character, just no longer chippy.
The color is lighter than the original blue. Most likely I will add another layer of deeper blue to the trunk later this Fall. One coat of top paint gave good, complete coverage. A second coat of paint, darker blue, will provide even better protection from the weather.
We placed the trunk on brick pavers to raise it about two inches from the porch floor. This will help water drain away from the bottom of the box instead of allowing the box to sit in water.
The couple of extra inches of height also makes it easier to reach over the Adirondack chair arms to the top of the trunk.
Of course, the fun part is decorating and styling the box. I found the dark blue serving tray at Hobby Lobby two to three years ago and have often used it on the blue trunk. The tray is melamine which makes it good for outdoor use.
I do use glass dishes outside on the porch and decks, but the tray's color and price were too good to pass up.
Ivy is potted in a clay pot I painted almost the same shade of blue five or six years ago. By using the same basic color palette over the years, old things always go with new things.
The heart shaped wire for training the ivy into a topiary is from an old ivy topiary that died.
Candlelight from a rustic wire candle holder will be nice for sitting on the porch after dark when the weather cools down. 
Summer is winding down. Fall and Winter rains will come. I am happy the little rustic blue trunk has fresh exterior paint to protect it.
S O U R C E
Behr Paint - Exterior, Satin - Color is Glass Sapphire
