Dressing Up a Dress Up Box

Before I get into house projects, I want to showcase a couple of projects I worked on before moving. This one I've been wanting to share for a while, but it was a gift, so I didn't want to spoil the surprise. FINALLY, I was able to give the gift and now I can share this fun project. 

Last summer, I got to meet and hang out with a beautiful little girl named Misha, the daughter of some family friends. She and her parents joined my family at our lake house for Labor Day Weekend, and I had a blast taking her on her first tubing and kayaking trips, being amazed by her vocabulary and reasoning skills and most importantly, playing make believe games. Imagination games of this sort are very dear to my heart. They remind me of days of playing "house" mashed with "adventurers" mashed with "zoo." In those days, I popped out baby dolls (via the good ol' out-the-bottom-of-the-shirt delivery method) almost as quickly as I saved baby tigers, weaving storylines with my siblings and best friends.

Today, I realize how essential those pretend games are to play, teaching children about teamwork and creativity. Most importantly, it allows a child to imagine themselves as anything - from a dolphin, to a racecar driver, to a doctor. It's empowering, and magical and if I could start a foundation to save our endangered imaginary games, I would. Because as so many childhoods shift indoors and in front of screens, children are losing the ability to entertain themselves, to tell a story that's not part of a video game plotline, to play outside and make a jungle gym into a castle.

Okay, okay, so I'm stepping down from the soapbox. Really, I just want to be a kid again. And Misha helped me do that. I loved pretending to be a "doggie" with her and realized that I wanted to give her something that gave my siblings and I so much joy (and embarrassing photos) over the years -- an essential tool to imaginary play: a dress-up box. 

I began to keep an eye out at thrift stores for the right thing Ours was usually a big old tupperware storage bin, but I wanted to make something fun for Misha. That's when I found this beaut. 

Gorgeous, right? I know. This puke brownish/greenish trunk was a little smelly, quite dirty and $10 ... so, perfect. After scrubbing it down and letting a bowl of baking soda sit in it for a couple of days to soak up the odor, I began to paint. It's covered in a weird squishy vinyl material like 50s chairs or something, but I mixed up some homemade chalk paint and it adhered just fine. 

I had fun adding a Dr. Suess quote, a dainty gold stripe and a little encouragement to "imagine" on top. My dad cut me a couple of pieces of wood to line the inside, and viola! My mom and siblings helped me fill the trunk with some of the pieces that made it over the years from our box, and some new finds too - bought on sale after Halloween and at Goodwill (because nothing's more fun than wearing a silky dress that's way too big for you.)

When we met up with Misha's family recently, it was pouring near the end of our visit, so in a dingy parking garage, we gave Misha the trunk. (That's her mom and my dad exploring the inside ----> 

Don't you just love a satisfying Before & After? And to top it off, I've received some adorable shots of Misha and her cousin putting the dress-up box to good use. Dabble on, little ones, dabble on.