Pallet Stars

After finishing the pallet storage for my kitchen countertop, I realized I still had another storage piece to use.  I didn't want it to go to waste, however, I couldn't think of where to utilize it.  However, thanks to Holly over at "Down to Earth Style", (which is a beautiful blog by the way) I remembered that she used hers as a flower box and hung it over a doorway...looks great!  I didn't hang mine over a doorway, but chose to hang it over my window seat in the kitchen.
Anyway, it still needed something on either side of it, so I decided to make a couple of stars.  I wanted them to have the same texture as the pallet box so I made the stars from the leftover wood.  Of course, the wood wasn't wide enough to cut out a star so this is what I decided to do...cut all the star points separately and then join them together with twine.

I stained the wood with a dark walnut stain and then thread the twine through the holes I drilled into the points.  I attached a small self-leveling hanger to the back and hung them on either side of the flower box. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Lesa

Pallets and Letters

So, this idea isn't anything new...in fact, the different uses of pallets is all over blogland and the internet.  However, one idea that I love is using the pallets as storage.  I wanted to incorporate this idea somewhere in my kitchen, but I don't have alot of wall space so I decided it would work best on my counter.  It was a little "blah" so I decided to cut some letters out of 1/4" mdf board to spell "Bakery".  I painted them a creamy white color and used wood glue to secure them to the front of the pallet storage.  Now its a great place to keep my favorite and frequently used cookbooks.

Thank you for stopping by...

Lesa

A Little Hallway Love

As I mentioned in my last post, I've decided to try and make my hallway a little less boring and to spruce it up a bit.   I didn't have much for wood, but happened to find some 2x4's, 1x6, and 1x2's in the shop, so I threw together this bench.

I stained it with dark walnut and then painted it with a creamy white paint.  I wanted to give it a weathered appearance so I removed some of the paint to reveal the stained wood.

Added a canvas pillow and basket for accessories and decided it would look great along the wall with my kids pictures.

I added their initials to their picture groupings to add a bit more interest.  I simply printed off the letters in the font I wanted, traced them onto mdf board and cut them out on the scroll saw.  A quick sanding, some stain and paint and they were ready to hang on the wall. 

I think it looks much better, but I'll let you be the judge!

Thank you for stopping by...

Lesa

Burlap & 2x4's

I have a very boring hallway and I finally decided it was time to do something about it.  I figured I had enough "junk" laying around that I could put something together that would make it a bit more appealing, so this is what I came up with...

I needed a table of some kind that would fit in the tiny space, but everything I had was either too wide length-wise or width-wise, so I went out into the shop to see what type of wood I could use to make a tabletop.   I new I wanted something "heavy" looking so I used 2 x 4's.  I cut three pieces 32" long, glued and screwed them together by attaching 1 x 2 underneath.   I gave it good sanding with 100-girt and then 220-grit sandpaper.  I applied a dark walnut stain, but it wasn't quite dark enough, so I sprayed some oil rubbed bronze (by Krylon) paint onto a damp cloth and rubbed it into the surface.  (this was a bit of an experiment, but it worked!)

Once dry, I need to attach the tabletop to the wall. I found two metal shelf brackets out in the shop and even though they were ugly, I knew you weren't going to see them once I was finished.

After attaching everything to the wall, I took some measurements and made a burlap skirt.  So far, so good.  (except for the pictures I've taken!)

I wanted to hang a mirror, but I didn't have anything large enough for the wall space so I decided to refinish this window.

The "pink" just wasn't going to work with my color scheme so I gave the frame a quick sanding to loosen any chipping paint and then stained the bare wood areas with a dark walnut stain.  I painted the "pink" areas with a dark brown paint and I wasn't going for "perfection".

Once it completely dried, I rubbed random areas with vaseline and then applied a topcoat in a creamy white.  Again, let it dry completely.  Next, I rubbed off the areas covered in vaseline to reveal the basecoat.

I then applied a tinted wax to give the window frame more of an "aged" feel.  I make my own tinted wax with Johnson's Floor Paste Wax and Winsor & Newton Oil paint in burnt umber (this comes in a 37ml tube available at art or stationary stores).  My recipe varies depending on how dark I want the wax so you might want to experiment with this on your own, however, I usually use about 1/2 cup wax to 1-2 tsp. oil paint.  Mix it in a container and apply with a rag.  Let dry and then buff off.

I added a few accessories and now the end of the hallway isn't so boring.

Now I need to get to work on the rest of the hallway!  Thank you for stopping by...hope you'll come back for another visit!

Lesa