The guestroom isn't big enough for dogs wearing high heels and smoking pipes

With the dresser relegated to the garage and half the closet devoted to saddles, 

storage in the guestroom was starting to look like a problem...

 

...until I remembered this old trunk my sister restored and gave to me

40-something years ago. 

I hauled it down from the attic and emptied it of its treasures 

(e.g., wedding dress, letters my mom sent to me when I was in college, 

Girl Scout sash with all my merit badges, hubcap from from my first car, etc.).

With enough elbow grease and chemicals, I'm thinking I can restore it again 

and end up with an interesting, functional storage piece at the foot of the bed.

Now I know some of you, or at least Ethel, are thinking, "the lining must be saved!"

I think not. And so that I wouldn't be dissuaded, I scraped it all off

before writing this post.
(Click on the image to enlarge it...I wouldn't want you to miss some of these details.
I wonder if Tina and Max are still together?)

  I'm not sure of the trunk's origins, though I have a vague memory of

my sister purchasing it from an Army Navy surplus store.

(Sister, please enlighten us if you see this post.)

My current plan is to strip off the paint to the bare aluminum, 

polish it, line it with cedar planks, and end up with something kinda sorta like this: