Headboard Coat Rack

I love Pinterest. Without it, I would have to come up with creative stuff all on my own. Which I could do, but half the time my ideas never turn out the way I picture them in my mind. That's where Pinterest really shines! You can look at the "after" photo of a project and decide if it's worth the time. That's how I discovered this idea to take an old twin bed headboard and turn it into a beautiful coat rack. 

The first step was to find a headboard that would work. Not all headboards are suitable for this. I really wanted something pretty with lots of mouldings and curves, but unfortunately our local thrift store didn't have any headboards like that. Instead, I bought a plain old wood headboard with hopes that I could pretty it up later.

I had Hubby cut off the legs, then I primed it with Zinsser primer--a favorite of mine. It means I don't have to sand a piece to get the paint to stick. Next, I did a few coats of satin Walmart brand country white interior latex paint. 

 

After it was all dry, I used a sanding block and wallpaper scraper to give the headboard a chippy, vintage feel. I love all things chippy! Finally, I brushed on some Minwax Walnut Stain/Sealer and wiped it off with one of Hubby's old shirts. It leaves just enough stain behind to give an antique finish while also adding a layer of sealant for protection.

The most inspired part of this makeover was embellishing the painted piece. I added a wood applique to the top (actually Hubby did, using a nail gun). I also decided to fill in the open space with a chalkboard (just a piece of cut wood and some chalkboard paint). Finally, I bought a few inexpensive hooks and BOOM! This pretty piece was done! Now, who's going to try this?

Love Grows on Grandpa's Farm: Barnboard Sign

I've mentioned a few times that my dad lives on a farm. And I've also mentioned a few of the items I found while snooping around one day: wire baskets, galvanized buckets, old rusty chains. But my favorite item was this amazing piece of wood. 

It still had the remnants of rusty hinges and a lock attached. The wood was weathered, but tough. It just really reminded me of my dad. So I decided to keep it and make it into a kind of family heirloom that I hope will be passed down from generation to generation.

 

I decided to make it into a kind of family tree. On the back, I wrote the names of our family, starting with my Great-Grandma Rose whose parents came to America from Germany. She had lots of children, but I only wrote my grandmother's name: Dorothy. Dorothy, too, had many children--all my aunts and uncles, but I only listed my dad, Dave, and my mom, Audrey. After that I listed my husband and I and then our kiddos. I hope the tradition continues and names get added.

On the front I simply painted "Love Grows" which I thought was fitting in keeping with both the farm and family tree themes. 

Now, it just needs Hubby to add a chain to the back so I can hang it on the wall. I know this will be a cherished memory for my kiddos--one of which graduates from high school this year and the other turns sixteen. They have many years of fond memories on Grandpa's Farm, and I think this will be a beloved reminder of that as they grow up and begin families and memories of their own.

My girls are grown up now, but when they were little they enjoyed riding with Grandpa Dave on his tractor (and giving mom a heart attack for fear they would fall).

 

The girls loved the baby kittens.

 

Sisters could always find an adventure exploring grandpa's farm.

 

Our family at Grandpa Dave's farm along with Maggie the border collie.

A Chalkboard (Cork Board) Of My VERY OWN!

I've seen them on Pinterest. I've seen them on blogs. I've envied them from afar, and now, finally, I

decided to make one of MY VERY OWN! Here is the epic saga of how a girl, injured and alone, managed to turn a thrift store cork board into a dazzling, amazing chalkboard!

Let's begin at the beginning. First, my wrist is injured. I've whined about this before, but I'm hoping it might explain later failures, so pity me, reader. PITY. ME.

With injured wrist, I managed to do the easiest part of this whole fiasco, which was to paint the cork board. I painted the actual cork with two coats of chalk board paint. I have never used it before and it is as fantastic as you've dreamed! However, I believe it was meant for FLAT surfaces. But more on that later.

Then I painted the outside frame white. After it all dried, I decided to "season" it, based on one blog's recommendation. This is where you color with the flat side of the chalk over the entire board, then erase it. This makes it so your mistakes aren't as glaringly obvious, which is a good thing because it was at this point that I began to get CREATIVE--AKA the part where things started going a bit wonky.

A lot of chalkboard how-to's tell us to freehand it. I don't know if they are the descendents of Rembrandt and DaVinci or what, but we mere mortals cannot freehand! So (clever, clever me) I

decided to print out a template and trace it onto the chalkboard using my trusty old willow charcoal technique (in which our heroine colors on the back of her print-out with willow charcoal and then traces the design onto the desired surface, in this case, a cork/chalk board).

This did not go quite so smoothly. Likely because charcoal is black much like, oh I don't know, a chalkboard, perhaps? Still, in the right light I managed to see about two-thirds of my design and decided to take advice from the experts and "freehand" the parts I couldn't see.

This is the part where I was VERY thankful for my ultra-skinny chalk PENCIL. I picked this baby up in the fabric section of a craft store. It's perfect for eentsy beentsy lines. So, I traced over the dark design with a light white. Then I filled it all in. This required much smudging.

The "experts" often said to wet the chalk to make the design stick better and look brighter. I tried this, but only ended up with goopy chunks of chalk stuck to my board. Then my chalk broke. ALOT. So, plan B was to just fill it in with good, old dry chalk and smudge. But my big clumsy fingers were not suitable to the thin lines of my font, so for that part I used a pencil eraser. Smudge-a-rific!

When it was nearly done, I decided to blow away the crumbly chalk pieces and accidentally spit on the board. Yes, spittle. From my mouth. Thankfully, it didn't do too much damage and I was able to keep going, careful to make all my future work spittle-free.

At the end, my design looked like something a really artistic 12 year-old might do. I decided it needed something more... so I added thin highlight lines to the words (again thankful for my ultra-thin chalk pencil).

I guess it wasn't too bad for the first attempt, but I'm still envious of those fancy-schmancy artists out

there who make words into ART. Maybe I'll try again, but probably on a flatter surface (AKA no cork bumpies). In the meanwhile, I'm proud of what I accomplished with my (sob story) injured wrist and broken chalk pieces!