Showing posts with label barn wood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barn wood. Show all posts
My Best Gift Ever: A Vintage Midwest Corn Crib
Custom Artwork with Reclaimed Wood Frame
Every now and then, I have the opportunity to create one of a kind pieces of art for very special people. Last year, it was a Pallet Wood Nursery Sign for a friend who became a Grandmother for the first time. Then, it was a Pottery Barn knockoff Glitter Santa that I made as a surprise for my sister last Christmas.
Today, I have the opportunity to create a custom piece of art with a barn and pallet wood frame for the Bat Mitzvah of a young lady named, "Esther".
Farm House Shelves - Reclaimed Barn wood
When I left you yesterday, the wood from Brian's barn, was leaning against the wall of my garage to dry after a good scrubbing. In case you missed it, you'll find my prior post about the century old wood and the barn that it came from, here.
While the wood dried, I went to Home Depot and got two 4x8 sheets of pine bead board to use for the back of the cabinet. Since the bead board is new pine versus old, I'm going to distress it and faux finish it so that it looks older and will blend with the old wood. This is the mix of products that I used:
The first step was to wipe on some Old Masters white wiping stain. After that, I kept adding layers and sanding and wiping and smearing until I felt good about the way that it looked. There is no right or wrong way to do this and there's no such thing as "perfect" but I think that it blends in pretty well, don't you?
After the cabinet was nailed together, I gave it one more light sanding with a sanding sponge and then blew it off with the leaf blower (yeah, I know, a leaf blower?!...but the cabinet was in the garage and the leaf blower was more convenient than the vacuum) to remove every last spec of dust and loose debris before I finish coated it with Helmsman Spar Varnish in a Satin finish. (Before you ask, Yes, that IS a concrete chicken in the background. Her friend is behind the cabinet. Apparently she's too shy to be photographed).
This afternoon, we carried it into the dining room and set it atop the side board.
It looks exactly as I had hoped that it would. The varnish brought out the red in the iron oxide "barn red" paint as well as the time worn patina of the pine. I'm sending a link to this post to Brian tomorrow. I only hope that he's as pleased as I am with the way that it turned out.
xo,
S
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Brian's Barn - Reclaiming 100 Year Old Wood
This is Brian's barn. It's over 100 years old. Brian's taking it down but, he's reclaiming all of the wood and he's selling some of it on Craig's List. I didn't take these first two photos, Brian did. That's his truck
Yep, I took the board with the electric outlet on it. Not sure whether it'll end up in the cabinet or not.
Don't you just LOVE old nails!? There are even some that are SQUARE! As I removed all of the nails, I couldn't help but think of all of the people who had pounded them in over the last century. The thought of it made me smile. It's fun when my furniture has a "history" even before I build it.
After I finished removing all of the nails, I scrubbed the wood with with a brush using soap and water with ammonia in it because, let's face it, sometimes "patina" is just "dirt". Then I sprayed it with a little bleach and stood it on my driveway to dry. The good news is that none of the character that draws me to old barn wood was lost. There's something about century old pine that makes my heart flutter. It could be that I'm a Midwest girl. It could be that I drove a combine in the farm fields of DeKalb county for two summers during college. It's there that I first came to know and love old farm houses and old barns.
Well, I'm off to sketch and taking some measurements. I hope that by tonight, I'll be able to build the cabinet but I'm still not sure what to do about this outlet...
xo,
S
Bedroom "sneak peek"
I can't really call it a "reveal because there are still chairs to slipcover, faux painting to finish and a cabinet to paint but the bedrooom is finally finished "enough" (my word for the year) to show it to you.
This was the "before" photo:
This was the "before" photo:
I loved the wallpaper and the drapes but it was time for a change.
Here's how it looks today:
The room looks larger and much brighter now that the ceiling is painted a pale powder blue instead of yellow and the border paper has been removed. I think that taking down the dark brown drapes and the valance also helped to "lighten things up".
The wallpaper is probably my favorite paper of all time! Other than the two week while it came from the U.K., it is AMAZING! Heavily painted paper with raised sections in the design and the fact that the instructions called for pasting the WALL instead of the paper made it a breeze to hang! Truly, it took me about 2 hours to do it by myself. I also bought three old barn window frames from my friend, Diane Passi. I like the way that they act as a frame for sections of the wallpaper!
The white pin dot panels (Rachel Ashwell Simply Shabby Chic) came from Target as did the white throw. The rest of the room was "repurposed" from the guest room and other rooms in my house.
I'll post a few more photos later in the week....this is the corner that I'm still working on:
The cabinet may or may not stay. If it does, it's going to be painted...the chairs will (obviously) need reupholstery. The rest is anyone's guess. I do have a collection of frames to paint and put on the walls but I can't do that until I decide about the cabinet!
xo,
S
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