How do you make a Four Year old SQUEAL with Delight? Take an old Starline Suitcase and turn it into a drop dead fabulous dressup trunk - glaze the crap out of it so it's a shiny as new patent leather shoes.
So here's the nasty brown nagahyde Starlite. I didn't even buff or sand the vinyl, I figured she's 4 - how much is she going to drag it around???
Rip the Guts out.... make sure you put it right in the garbage or your whole house will smell like old ladies and that's not a good thing!
The inside was pretty nasty - I soaked this in alcohol/bleach/Febreeze/Odor Remover/baking soda and newspaper. I still ended up spritzing it with a perfume before I put the lining in... I read that if you fill it with baking soda and old newspaper and put it in a plastic back for a few days that will eliminate the odor - it helped, but the odor was pretty strong!
I started by painting the whole thing lavender...which is G-Face's favorite color.
Then I put on the yellow, pink, pink, and more pink border. The sides were this awful pepto bismol color - so I eventually went back and put on some big colorful polka dots which broke the color up quite a bit!
Pepto Bismol Sides before the polka dots!
And then - I did some flowers and of course G's name. I finished it off with a couple of hefty coats of outdoor gloss. That seemed to both seal the paint to the vinyl and inhibit a lot of the chipping/scratching.
And then the back.... which I think is cute.
The inside I relined with a bumperpad style sides and a soft fabric covered batting for the top and the bottom. I don't have a picture of the lining - because it was stuffed full of clothes the minute she got it!
It was fun - but it took FOREVER - I'm not a patient, let's-wait-for-paint-to-dry kind of girl. Although the other Mom's at the birthday party were drooling. I'm in the running for Favorite Aunt - this might seal the deal!
