Curio Box Transformation

Today I thought I’d share with you a little project I finally completed last week. Back in September using the image at the bottom of this post for inspiration, I bought a little curio display shelf off Etsy as I had been unable to find a similar one in second hand shops. You can see the 'before' version here.

After very carefully removing the remaining glued down miniatures (no easy task due to the strong glue that had been used to adhere them), I gave the whole piece a good scrub with sandpaper. Paul then gave it several coats of spray paint for me. However, the paint didn’t adhere that well to the textured surface of some parts and I ended up using a paint brush to coat the inside walls of each compartment before giving it all one final coat of spray paint. Finally, I cut cute scrapbooking paper to fit the inside of some of the boxes.

I’m really pleased with the end result and now it’s waiting to be hung in Grace’s room. She’s already added a few treasures like shells and leaves and gemstones to it. I also gave her my two precious little owls. Having sentimental value I was always reluctant to let her play with them (especially after she broke one in two pieces when she dropped it on the floorboards and it had to be put back together with Supaglue). However, I recently decided that they would be perfect additions to her ’treasure shelf.’ The smile on her face when I said she could have them was worth more than their sentimental value in the end.