Thrift store coffee table remake

Coming Soon!  How I took this worn out thrift store find and gave it new life!

Weathered Wood Chalkboard

I been wanting a large chalkboard and couldn't really find one that I was looking for.  So I decided to make one that fit my need.  I wanted my chalkboard to be trimmed in weathered barn wood.  I didn't have the right wood available, so I made my own.  Here's my version of a weathered barn wood framed chalkboard.

Materials:  23 X 47 MDF sheet
                  chalkboard paint
                  router
                  1 X 3 pine
                  tea bags
                  steel wood
                  vinegar
                  3 different dark stain colors

1.  First, wipe off the MDF, then paint your MDF sheet with several coats of chalkboard paint.  Let dry between coats.

2.  Route one side of your 1 X 3 pine boards.  Make sure your pieces are long enough to make a frame for your MDF.

3.  Cut your routed pine boards at 45 degree angles to form a frame for the MDF.  I used a finishing nail gun to fasten my frame at the joints.  Sand edges of the frame.

4.  Now for the weathered effect!  24 hours prior to staining, place a steel wood pad in a jar with vinegar and let it sit.  Now that you're ready to stain, boil the tea bags in water.  When tea is ready, wipe this using a sponge paint brush onto the pine frame.  Immediately wipe the steel wool, vinegar mixture over it.  It will immediately turn grey.  While still wet, I used a different dark stain on each piece of the frame to give it that barn wood ecletic look and to get different effects on each part of the frame.  Let it dry.

To fix my MDF to the frame I used staples shot in at an angle all around the back of the MDF.  This has made it really sturdy inside the frame.

Pottery Barn Knock Off Planked Pony Wall Art

Here's my version of the Planked Pony Wall Art Pottery Barn used to advertise and sell for $200.  I've loved the look for several years and wanted to give it a try.  I did some slight variations to make it my own, but stayed pretty true to PB's version.

Pottery Barn's Version

Here's my finished product!

Step 1 - Cut 2X10 the length you want.  I made mine 38 inches wide.

Step 2 - Use wood glue and glue your boards together.  I let mine sit after that for about a week.

Step 3 - I then wanted a barn wood or weathered wood appearance.  You will need to prepare this ahead of time.  Soak a pulled apart steel wool piece in vinegar.  I put mine in a glass jar and let it sit 24 hours or so.  When that was ready, I boiled some tea bags and used that and wipe it all over the glued wood piece.  While it was wet with the tea, I used my sponge brush and painted the steel wool vinegar mixture on top.  It immediately turned a grayish hue.  While the boards were wet with the tea and steel wool treatment, I used a dark stain and wiped it over the wood.  This gave me a very dark weathered appearance.  Let that wood dry before proceeding.

Step 4 - I free handed a horse image, much like PB's onto poster paper.  I then cut it out and transferred this to contact paper.  I had to use two pieces and overlap the contact paper because of the horse's size.

Step 5 - Place the horse contact paper cut out on the wood.   Rub it down really well and try to get it as flat on the wood as possible to prevent sippage of paint under contact paper.

Step 6 - I then used a sponge brush and dabbed my off white latex paint onto the wood all around the horse outline.  I then moved on to covering the entire wood piece with the off white paint.  Let dry 24 hours!

The horse silhouette is difficult to see

Step 7 - Carefully, remove the contact paper horse outline.  I had a few paint sippage spots, but used a very small brush and straighten those lines out.

Step 8 - Use a sanding block and sand areas on the wood that you would like to show through.  I really wanted the chipped paint look, so I spent some time with this step.

Step 9 - Rub clear wax paste over the entire wall art piece. 

Step 10 - Find a fabulous place in the house to show off your work!

New Beginnings

Borrowed words to life by.....

Have you ever felt that nervousness in your gut, like you knew this was where you should be going, but not sure which direction to take? That's me at this very moment. It's been years in the making and I feel so sure that this blog is the right next step, but I have no idea how navigate the next step. Well, we learn by doing, right, that's what I tell my students anyway! I've stayed in the shadows of blogdom for a while and it's time for me to bask in the sunshine of sharing what I've learned along the way. If you have advice for a newbie like me, I'd love to hear it