Meet Matilda - upcycled linen chest

I’m excited to share our latest piece of furniture with you today: an upcycled oak blanket chest called Matilda. I also thought you might like to see a peek at our inspiration and design process from some pics we quickly snapped during a magazine photoshoot at the studio last week (more news on that next month!).

Chests and trunks have proved to be our most popular pieces at Ruby Rhino and it’s actually not surprising considering how handy they are. They are incredibly useful for providing discreet storage for everything from spare linen and bedding, to books, magazines, kids toys or whatever else you need to hand but don’t want on display.

I love to see them at the end of a bed but the extra bonus for use in a living room is that they can double up as a coffee table to give a fabulous vintage centrepiece.

Below is the initial mooboard for Matilda. You'll notice how ideas of purples and greys evolved into the dusty pink palette that we finally created to highlight the inlaid panels. We decided to use our unique cloudy paint effect, which involves several layers of colour building to create a really deep, dreamy finish. See more close-up pictures here.

We couldn't be happier with how Matilda turned out. In fact, when I popped my pillows in for some quick styling, I was so tempted to make a new home for her in my bedroom. The perils of creating something you love is that you never want to give it up!

We hope you love Matilda as much as we do. Buy here, inquire here, or find out more about our new furniture painting workshops.