Make A Cedar Chest Look New: Layered Paint Using Petroleum Jelly

It’s easy to give an old cedar chest a stylish, modern look by layering two colors of paint using petroleum jelly.

I love vintage cedar chests, and they’re great project pieces. They’re often in bad condition and I don’t feel bad about painting them.

I found the cedar chest at my favorite junk shop. The price was $20. You can’t beat that.

I loaded up on this junkin trip.

The inside of the chest was in much better condition than the outside. The chests with the trays are nice.

After cleaning the cedar chest I painted it with black latex paint I had on hand. I only applied one coat of paint because I planned to do a top coat in green, and one coat of black paint was enough for the layered finish.

Petroleum jelly is the secret to this paint finish. Vaseline brand is what I had on hand, but any brand of petroleum jelly should work fine.

I put on a pair of latex gloves and took a very small amount of petroleum jelly out of the container—maybe a teaspoon. Then, I wiped the petroleum jelly over the spots that would normally be distressed, such as the top edges, the raised details on the front, and the sides of the feet.

Then, I rubbed a very thin layer of petroleum jelly over small areas of the body of the chest. The secret to this layered paint finish is how you use the petroleum jelly. It only takes a thin, thin jelly layer over the first paint layer.

You will know if you used too much petroleum jelly because when you brush on the second layer of paint it will be kind of slimy. Yuck. I’ve made this mistake in the past.

I love green, and this green is a can of oops paint, so I don’t know the color name. The photo of the chest above shows how it looked after one coat of paint. I applied a second coat after the first coat dried.

I’m sorry, but I don’t have a close-up photo of me distressing the paint. I took photos but don’t have a clue what happened to them.

Anyway, I used a lint-free rag and wiped over the areas where I applied the petroleum jelly, and the green paint rubbed off. In some areas, it was easier to remove the green paint than in others. I rubbed harder if I wanted more black paint to show through. It also helps sometimes to dampen the rag.

I love the green and black paint combination on the cedar chest. You might ask why I didn’t just apply the black paint and then the green paint and use sandpaper to distress the paint. Well, the sandpaper will remove both layers of paint down to the wood.

That is why I apply petroleum jelly between the layers of paint. Because of the petroleum jelly, the top layer will not bond heavily to the bottom layer of the paint.

The cedar chest turned out just like I hoped. I need to use this paint technique more often.

So, what do you think of the layered paint? Would you prefer colors besides green and black? I’ve layered gray paint and pink paint where small bits of pink can be seen under the gray. 

Do you think it’s okay to make an old cedar chest look stylish and new or should we leave them with their original finish? Leave a note if you have time and thanks for being here, Kathy

Kathy Owen

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Author: Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines. Kathy’s newest website is HappyHomeDIY.com