Here’s a project I’ve been working on for about three months now.  Back when I first set up the Nerd Cave, I bought a large black, plastic storage bin to use as a coffee table/ottoman.  My plan was to spray paint it O.D. Green and add some stenciling to make it look like a cargo container off the U.S.S. Sulaco (from the film Aliens).  I may still do something like that down the road, but ended up scrapping the idea for now because the storage bin I chose was too tall.  It worked great as a coffee table, but as an ottoman, the height tended to hyper-extend my knees.  If there’s one thing my knees don’t need, it’s hyper-extension.  I couldn’t find another bin that fit what I needed so I back-burnered the whole thing.

     Until, that is, I found this on…wait for it…CB2

     If you’ve read my previous posts, you know I am a huge fan of CB2.  Pretty much everything in the cave is from them except the sofa.  As I write this, the Versus Trunk retails for $149 direct from CB2 which is pricey compared to similarly sized plastic trunks.  But, having owned one for awhile now, I think it’s a fair price for the functionality and quality you get.

     That being said, it’s a little plain as is.  Strangely enough, this bare metal trunk has its interior painted bright, glossy orange.  Great if you’re a Tennessee Vols fan.  For me, a Bama fan (don’t hate), not so much. But unless you’re planning on leaving it open, it’s not an issue.

     I considered going forward with my U.S.S. Sulaco plan, but hated to cover up the metal which looks pretty cool.  I’ve always like the look of old luggage covered in travel stickers and decided to go for that same vibe with a Nerd Cave spin. What I came up with is a steamer trunk for interplanetary travel.

     Some (lengthy) searches on eBay, Amazon, and Etsy yielded quite a few space/sci-fi related stickers. I even found some space-travel travel stickers.  There’s actually one for the Sun (yeah, but it’s a dry heat).  I started amassing an assortment of stickers and adding them to the trunk as they arrived.

     In the end, I’m pretty happy with the result.  You’ll probably notice some stickers that don’t exactly fit the theme (e.g. the Rolling Stones lips, Venture Bros. and the monsters). I was running low on “spacey” stickers, so I decided to branch out into other funky areas of (my) interest. What I ended up with is a pretty good representation of what my personal space travel trunk might look like…IMHO, I think it turned out pretty cool.

     On the bonus side, besides having a place to set my nachos or kick up my feet, I also have a great place to store extra pillows and blankets.

     If you want to do something similar, below are some close-up shots followed by links (in no particular order) to the various sellers from whom I got most of stickers I used.  In the end, I estimate that I spent about 100 bucks on them all.  Sounds like a lot, but the cool thing about this project is you can do it over a long period of time as your budget permits.  As you’ll see, I still have a few bare areas in need of adornment and will be on the lookout for new stickers that will fit in those gaps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Stickers*

*obviously, these links may go bad over time, but you should still be able to find them using the various search functions on eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. Note that there are one or two stickers I used that I won’t recommend.  They ended up being the “look printed on a home computer” types (because they were). They’ll probably get scraped off and replaced in the future.  So, if I’ve listed a particular sticker and seller below, the sticker is/was high quality and the service was first class (in my experience). Of course, your mileage may vary…

Space 1999 Alpha Moonbase from eBay seller Dome_City
Black Cat from eBay seller stickerxchange
Popsicle Girl from eBay seller stickerxchange
Zombacco from eBay seller stickerexchange
Don’t Panic Hitchhiker’s Guide Dude from eBay seller ozsticker
Don’t Panic bumper sticker from eBay seller ozsticker
International Zombie Hunting Permit sticker from eBay seller ozsticker
Futurama Planet Express decal from eBay seller jeepM14
Retro Sci-Fi Travel Stickers from Esty seller IndelibleInkWorkshop
Dont’ Panic vinyl decal from Etsy seller IMadeThisVinyl
Venture Bros. vinyl decal from Etsy seller IMadeThisVinyl
Necronaut sticker by Etsy seller mrwalters
Spooky Space Kook decal by Etsy seller 3DMonsterArtStore
Mechagodzilla decal by Etsy seller 3DMonsterArtStore
Chewie is my Co-Pilot Protective Talisman Sticker by Etsy seller lackoillustration
Hackintosh Apple stickers by Etsy seller lackoillustration
Monster Squad stickers by Etsy seller sabrinaparolin
Cthulhu’s Soulless Coffee sticker by Etsy seller WeirdStickers
Ghoul & Monster stickers by Etsy seller printedwonders
Star Trek Starfleet Academy sticker from Amazon seller Dealdrome
Rolling Stones Tongue sticker from Amazon seller Dealdrome
Engineered by Firefly sticker from Amazon seller Animewild
Star Trek Starfleet Command sticker from Amazon seller Novelty Emporium
This End Up sticker from Amazon seller CoolHubcaps

 

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