At Treasured Chests trunks are completely and thoroughly restored. The inside is stripped down to the bare wood and sealed with our proven sealers so that mothball or other odors will be removed and will not return. We will reline the trunk with wallpaper. We keep a good assortment of papers so that you can choose what you want ahead of time. The entire trunk is cleaned of dirt and rust before being restored. We paint the outside trim and all hardware with rust-preventive paint. The outside wood is stripped of the old finish by hand, we use no chemical strippers. The wood is then sanded and sealed and a high quality furniture finish is applied. Any embossed patterns are repainted in two colors to bring back the relief. New handles (and straps if applicable) are applied. The entire outside gets an extra coat of very hard but invisible protective coating. Trays or "inserts" are refinished, as well as any compartments and lids. The bottom and back of the trunk are treated as if they were going to be on display too and get the same treatment as the rest of the trunk. When the trunk is finished it is absolutely beautiful and will be just as original as possible.

We are always glad to give free estimates for refinishing your trunk. Costs depend upon several things such as condition, size and style. 

Please note:

If you are not within driving distance of Winston-Salem, NC or you cannot bring your trunk to us then please note the following. It is usually quite expensive to ship a trunk to us for restoration, pay us what we must have to stay in business, have the trunk professionally packed (as with any finished restoration whether it's yours or ours), insured and shipped back to you. We must have a deposit of $200 before you send us any item to be restored. If your trunk means this much to you and you still want us to restore it then we will gladly consider it; we just like to be honest up front about all this. 

Do not, under any circumstances, ship an item to us without first talking to us about it.

In order to give an estimate for restoration as above then we will need good photos of all four sides, top, bottom and inside of the trunk. Point out anything in text that might be difficult to see in the photos. Include any special instructions such as "please leave Grandma's initials on the end". We will ask you later for such things as color preferences of new lining.

We almost always have a backlog of restorations so when we give you an estimate of costs then we will also give you an estimate of when you can expect your trunk to be shipped back to you fully restored. Most restorations can be done in one to two weeks once we start.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to our being swamped with restoration requests we're having to limit the types of trunks we can restore. We can no longer restore wardrobe trunks, doll trunks or Louis Vuitton trunks.

How to Request a Restoration Estimate

Please e-mail us good photos of all four sides, top, bottom and inside. Please point out anything we might not see in the photos. Please include any special instructions (such as "leave Grandma's initials on the left end".)

How long will you have to wait to get your trunk back?

That depends on our backlog. We have not caught up in the last several years. Right now we're averaging about 5-6 months turnaround on restorations. We will give you a time estimate along with your costs estimate. Once we start on a trunk it will take us about two weeks to finish it.