The Hope Chest

As Kierra's 16th birthday was approaching, I began thinking of different ideas
of what I might want to give her...
I knew that it would be fun to give her a Hope Chest since she always seems to be interested in things that pertain to her future.

She is always making comments like, 

"Mom, I really want to put together a cookbook of all of our families favorite recipes so that when I move out I can still have your yummy food!" :)

As the kids get older, it also gets a little harder to think of good gifts to give, and so I knew that if she had a Hope Chest, I could also give meaningful gifts at Christmas time (like her nativity that she got this year) or other special occasions so that she can have a nice little collection of things when she is finally ready to leave this nest...but NOT too soon, right? ;)

So, I began quite a search looking for just what I had in my mind...
but believe me when I say that there was nothing that I could find that would be as beautiful as what I had pictured in my mind without spending a TON of money!

I looked in all the unique stores that I could think of, I looked into special orders, I looked at the D.I. thinking I could just do it myself... 

and then I looked on KSL and hit the jackpot! :)

I found this beautiful antique Hope Chest that sat in the basement of an elderly couple out by the Timponogos Temple...it only had one owner over the last 65 years, and all it ever held in it was a
 wedding dress.
The inside looked brand new and it smelled so fragrant of fresh cedar.

This picture is quite blurry, but I just loved the details of the wood and the handles that made it appear to have drawers...it even has a little push button to open it with a lock and key.

Now, I wanted to keep this a surprise from Kierra so I had it hidden out in my garage with a blanket over it and bikes and different things all around it so she wouldn't try peeking...;)

And these are the colors that I used to try and achieve the look I was going for... although the end result looks quite a bit darker too because I decided to stain it with a black stain after
 I was through sanding and painting it.

The whole project cost me about $170 and took me about a week and a half to finish mostly because I would have to wait a little longer for each coat of paint to dry because it was so cold out in my garage where I was working on it. (Plus the fact that I would only do a little at a time because most of the time it was midnight oil that I was burning when I would have time to work on it ;)
I took off the handles, sanded it, painted it the light turquoise color, then painted it the tan color...then re-sanded it to let some of the light turquoise color show through...then finished it off by staining the entire thing and putting back on the original handles after painting them black.

I was so pleased with the finished product!
 I had Clint get it up to her bedroom where I decorated it and had it all set up for her as a surprise to see when she would get home from school.

To make it extra special for her, I developed the pictures that we took of her and Clint and I when we went on our "Dating Date." I framed them in some black frames, added a lace table runner and tied the whole chest up with a long strand of white tulle. I tied a white ribbon onto the key to the chest, and topped it all off with a dozen fresh roses and a love letter from her parents.
 I hope she will always treasure this gift.
It's representative of so many things that we have taught her, and it is something that she can always remember that her mother did...just for her. :)

(Kambriella was also sooo excited to be there when Kierra first saw it because after all, she was my BIG helper working on it part of the time! :) Sooooo fun! ;)