Craft! Glamour with a refurbished vintage Samsonite train case

I totally staged this photo.  But the book choices are pretty appropriate, I think.

This project was just finished up last night, a vintage Samsonite train case picked up at the thrift store.  The inside of the case is immaculate and the tiny keys were still sealed in the envelope.  The outside was really tired looking though.  I love how it turned out.

As found.  The exterior is sort of a faux-leather and wasn't coming clean ever.  Plus I just wasn't excited about the color.  I taped the center stripes off with painter's tape and spray painted the case with two coats; the first a pale blue and when I didn't like that it was painted over it with a sage green.  After the tape was peeled away the spots I missed, along with the center stripe, were painted with a small brush.  Over spray was cleaned up with a nail polish remover pen.  The original cream color was kept as striping and cleaned up with a magic eraser - it worked wonders to brighten it. 

This case makes me so happy to look at but I have no idea what I will ever use it for.  It just feels like a tiny bit of vintage glamour.  And don't we all need that sometimes.

I suppose it could be just be used as an overnight case, if you're a gal who travels light.

Let's ask some Hitchcock women who have overnighted on short notice.  Lisa carried a tiny designer bag for her perfectly innocent sleepover at Jeff's in Rear Window.

And when Melanie stayed at Annie's house in hot pursuit of Mitch in The Birds, she carried her belongings in a purse and a paper bag.  I had forgotten about that.

So... we'll say the train case falls somewhere in the middle?