I love my trunks! One antique trunk serves as a coffee table with the help of an antique silver tray. Two more serve as storage tucked under my dinning table, (which I also love to use as a footstool). But Oh My the trunks listed above aren't particularly stunning and they are absurdly priced for looking so cheap. I haven't paid over $50 for any of my beauties, new or antique. Maybe I'm a trunk snob : )

Trunks are really good for storing vampire slaying supplies. Just saying...

My husband and I downsized from a house then went off to have a couple years of travel overseas while we put our remaining furniture in storage. Two trunks made the cut to the storage unit--a gorgeous pine sea captain's trunk we'd bought an antique shop and our daughter's camp trunk, which had formerly been my husband's camp trunk. Our daughter had plastered the camp trunk with My Little Pony stickers as well as travel stickers from years of family travel--Grand Canyon, Quechee Gorge, Catskill Game Farm, etc. When it came time to downsize again into a condo, guess which trunk made the cut? A local history professor bought the beautiful sea captain trunk, but the camp trunk is now in the den of our condo being used as a coffee table. It doesn't "go" with anything else. But we couldn't part with it. It's as battered as can be, the stickers have faded or curled up, it's not quite level or very sturdy, but it's family history!

These bring shivers. When I was very small, my oldest sister and I were playing and she got into one of these trunks and I put a spoon through the lock. She asked me to get her out and I said I couldn't. She started screaming and pounding so my mother ran to see what was happening. When she pulled my sister out, she was red and full of sweat. I don't remember it but my sister does and it's a scary thought what might have gone terribly wrong.
Keep them safe. I guess 'in the day', parents didn't think about safety as much as they do now. The trunk was gone after that.
I remember it being a very distressed bright yellow and my mom kept extra blankets in it.

How strange, LyonStill-- I had a sort-of similar experience with a distressed yellow wooden trunk as a child! Except I was playing 'vampire' by myself in my room and when I lay down in my 'coffin' the latch fell down and I got stuck inside! I eventually made enough racket that my mom came up and freed me. I wasn't traumatized by the event though, now I just think its funny that I was apparently a pretend vampire savaging my stuffed animals! I wonder if our trunks were the same!

I have a trunk-related question -- we recently acquired a used trunk from my in-laws. I emptied it at their house (to take everything to goodwill), but by the time I got the trunk home, it had locked itself somehow. On subsequent trips back to my in-laws' house, I have searched for a key, but it's been lost. Any ideas on how to open it without damaging it? It's the same kind of lock as the trunk's in picture 2. We've tried picking the lock with various implements, and I've also looked up tutorials on youtube, and nothing seems to work. I'd rather not spend money on a locksmith, but that sounds like our next step (unless we just break the whole lock). Just wondered if anyone had experience with this? It seems like such a simple mechanism, but it's foiled us at every turn!

The trunk in our bedroom is the art gallery storage. Not that I have an art gallery but there's enough in there to set one up! Another thing on the list made for the January Cure. Weed and paint!

Trunks are easy to find at thrift stores. I'm not one of those people who automatically says that about everything.

I have one that cost me about $20.

My wife and I each brought a trunk into the relationship over 20 years ago. Each now contain a variety of our children's keepsakes. No way we paid over $20 for them. The touble with some of the new ones is that they aren't very sturdy for more than basic storage.

elm723 - I use a small flat heat screwdriver to open both of our trunks when they get "locked" accidentally. I think it's what my college roommate used on his trunk. For real security we used padlocks.

I still have my camp trunk that I've had since I was 7 years old and went to sleep away camp for the first time (for a month!). It's made by the Texas Trunk Company which doesn't look to be around any more. I love it because it doesn't look like your typical trunk, the lid is flat and not boxy and it is solid as all get out. It's also a beautiful blue. I use it to store all my photographs and negatives and my kids use it as a table or a seat. We've been using it as a coffee table for almost 4 years now. I doubt my parents knew how long it would last when they bought it for me.

Thanks, ttucker - we will try that!

I love trunks...especially old ones. BUT...if your going to use them for seating, protect the top of metal trunks from sagging, dents, and creases by placing a piece of plywood the exact dimensions of the trunk top between the cushion and the trunk. Sagging on metal trunks can also cause them to jam often and make it difficult to open and close.

I've listed some really cool ideas and items for black and white bedrooms on my page: http://www.squidoo.com/black-and-white-bed-sets-and-decor

I've used trunks my whole life--and I love them! When I was a kid I had a small antique trunk that I kept my "special" things in. It's in my den these days--it still contains my treasures, and my daughter loves opening it up and looking through it. In college, I kept my bedding in a trunk. My husband uses my mom's antique hand-me-down trunk to store his stinky bike clothes. And my daughter keeps her dress-up clothes in her own trunk.