Aged Archives - Page 6 of 10 - Pretty Handy Girl

accessories, Aged, art, arts and craft, dark wood, decor, July 4th, kids art, mantles, Tutorial

Easy DIY Yardstick Star

Hi there! It’s Melissa from The Happier Homemaker again and I’m excited to share a super easy little DIY decor project with you today! A few weeks back I was at Lowe’s on a Saturday morning (isn’t that where we all are on the weekends?) While shopping around I saw a bucket of yardsticks in the paint section and had a stroke of inspiration to create this adorable little yardstick star for my mantel! This was one of my favorite types of projects (simple and inexpensive) and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Materials

3 wood yardsticks
Saw (I used a circular saw but almost any type will work)
Wood Glue
Stain

Instructions:

Use a saw to cut each of your yardsticks in half at the 18″ line. Set one segment aside so you have 5 total pieces to work with. Read more

April 23, 2014/5 Comments/by Melissa Riker

Aged, craig's list, distressing, Furniture, Glaze, Home Decor, kitchen, Lowe's Creative Idea, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, ReNew, Tutorial

How to Faux Finish Weathered Wood Grain

Faux Weathered Gray Wood Grain Tutorial | Pretty Handy Girl

Do you love the Restoration Hardware tables that have that beautiful gray (driftwood-like) weathered wood? Me too. But, I can’t justify spending thousands of dollars on their furniture. Instead, I found a Craig’s List pedestal table that had the right shape and size for our kitchen. It was a cherry veneer finish, but after some paint you’d never know!

And then, I created my own Faux Weathered Gray Wood Grain top. All you need are some Valspar paint samples, some wood grain tools and a dry brush to achieve this look.

Ready to get started?

Faux Finish Weathered Wood Grain Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

3 empty containers
Wood Grain tool (I also used Martha Stewart craft comb for the sides of the table top)
Valspar 6006-1A Woodrow Wilson Putty
Valspar 6007-2A Arid Plains
Valspar 6005-1A Asiago
Clear mixing glaze
4″ chip paint brush
2.5″ Paint brush
Wet wipes for clean up and mistakes
Paper towel or dry rag
Minwax wipe on Polyurethane (the paint on will be more durable, but takes much longer to dry)
Optional: Minwax Natural Oak Finishing Wipes

Faux Finish Weathered Wood Grain Base Coat and Glazes:

Before you begin creating your wood grain, you should paint your surface with Valspar Woodrow Wilson Putty and allow it to dry.

If you are painting furniture, lightly sand the piece. And be sure to use Valspar Paint + Primer in one. This will allow you to paint directly onto the furniture and skip the primer. Read more

April 4, 2014/71 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

accessories, Aged, Before and After, copper, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, ReNew, sander, Spray paint metal, Trash to Treasure, Tutorial, Upcycling

Upcycled Plant Cart Saved from “Above the Rim”

Upcycled Metal Rolling Cart Plant Stand | Pretty Handy Girl

This past summer I spied a metal cart in a dumpster. To be frank, I have never truly actually participated in dumpster diving. The thought of actually climbing inside a dumpster has never been on my acceptable things to do list. But, this metal bar cart was floating on top of the trash pile. It was (to quote a Seinfeld episode) above the rim! And it was begging to be upcycled into a beautiful plant cart.

So, I convinced myself it was okay and wasn’t officially dumpster diving. Feel free to debate this fact in the comment section.

I brought it home and knew I could do a quick makeover with some spray paint. But, first it needed a good cleaning and some prep work. The tops of the shelves were very rusty:

Upcycled Plant Cart Saved from “Above the Rim”

And the undersides were filthy. But, the end product was worth it! Here is how to upcycle your own little metal rusty bar cart into a beautiful plant stand!

Materials:

1 Discarded rusty bar cart (rescued from above the rim)
Socket set
Hammer for coaxing rusty bolts loose
Can of Rustoleum Heirloom White spray paint
Can of Krylon Copper Spray paint
Sander/sanding block
Fine grit sand paper
Wire brush
Rag and/or damp wipes
Painter’s tape
Drop cloth
Scraps of wood to elevate while painting
Optional: Drill

Upcycled Plant Cart Instructions:

Loosen corner bolts with a socket wrench or drill and socket bit. Hammer out any that are too rusty to budge. Read more

March 31, 2014/36 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

Aged, decor, Decorating, distressing, DIY, drill, hanging shelves, Home Decor, kitchen, Kitchen Renovation, mantles, Tutorial

How to Install Shelves (using Corbels) on a Tile Wall

DIY Aged Chippy Paint Technique | Pretty Handy Girl

After painstakingly tiling my backsplash, I was more than a bit hesitant to drill holes into the tiles to hang the corbels and open shelving. But, I convinced myself to stop ~~being a wussy~~ procrastinating and just do it.

I’m so pleased with how they turned out and I didn’t chip or crack a single tile. In hindsight I really didn’t need to stress this project. It was less nerve-wracking than I had anticipated.

Here’s the full tutorial so you can install your own open shelving on a tile wall!

Materials:

Diamond drill bit (the same diameter as the screws you are using)
Wood screws to attach anchor board (must be long enough to go through board, tile, drywall and at least an inch into a stud)
- alternatively: Heavy duty wall anchors (if you aren’t anchoring into a stud or blocking)
Drill
Spray bottle filled with water
Level (long and a small one if you have one)
Pencil
2 regular drill bits (1 the same diameter as the screw + 1 large enough to create a countersink for the screw head)
Shelf brackets (I used corbels and a 1″x6″ pine board as an anchor)
Kreg jig
Pocket hole screws (long enough to attach corbel to anchor board without going through the board)
Joint compound or wood putty

Instructions:

Start by determining the height you want your shelves to hang. Read more

January 13, 2014/11 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

This is another one of those tutorials that I’ve been dying to share with you! Like sitting on my hands and anxiously waiting to type it out. But after taking 2 weeks off from blogging, I’m back and ready to give you this fabulous tutorial for achieving the aged chippy paint look on your next project.

Before I give you the chippy gritty, I want to give you the background story on those gorgeous corbels.

If you’ve been following along, I finally completed my 13 month kitchen renovation. The last task was installing two open shelves on the full tile wall. Finding the perfect corbels to use as shelf brackets was not an easy task. I scoured eBay, Craig’s List and salvage shops. I was really getting discouraged. That was when I met Garlan from Southern Accents Architectural Antiques at Haven. We talked for a few minutes and he showed me some of the corbels he had in his store. There were some wonderful old ones, but I felt a bit like Goldilocks. One was too tall. The other not big enough, but the biggest problem was that I needed four of them. Garlan showed me some new corbels that he had. He told me he has a guy that can duplicate any corbel design and can customize them to meet any size requirements. It was as if the heavens parted and angels sang! I was elated and couldn’t wait to find an image of a design I liked. But, again, the Goldilocks in me couldn’t find the “perfect” corbels. So, I opened up Adobe Illustrator and started to design my own unique corbels.

Chippy Paint Technique

I designed a scroll pattern based off of one corbel I saw, but also added some relief portions inside the corbel. I sent the image to Garlan and a week later he sent me a picture of one of the corbels. It was love at first sight! I quickly approved the initial one and waited anxiously for the corbels to arrive. When I opened the box, they were beautiful and exactly as I had pictured them in my head.

I set forth to give them an appropriate aged chippy paint look to fool people into thinking they were actually antique salvage. Here’s how I did it. Read more

January 10, 2014/47 Comments/by Brittany Bailey