How to Make New Wood Look Weathered

So, I bought Hubby a new saw for Christmas, and boy what a good investment it turned out to be! It's so easy to use, and he was so excited to try it, that I somehow managed to talk him into building me a farmhouse console out of pine 2x4s! What a deal!

I knew beforehand that I wanted to give the console a weathered wood look. So, I experimented with some techniques. Here is what I ended up with.

I started by trying to decide if I wanted to stain the wood with a dark walnut or a weathered gray. After painting swatches on the back of my console, I decided to start with the dark walnut. The gray looked too much like gray paint to me and it wasn't the look I was going for. I wanted a layered look so ultimately the console would look as if it was made from wood that had been painted and left out in the elements.

The first step was to stain the entire console with Dark Walnut Minwax Stain.

When the stain was dry, I dry brushed a layer of the weathered gray stain over it. To dry brush, I lightly dipped the brush in the stain, then wiped it on a cloth to get most of the stain off. Then I lightly wiped the brush across the wood, letting the texture pull small amounts of stain from the brush. The point is to get a light, layered look, NOT to cover the piece completely. This left plenty of dark stain showing through. You can play around with this on the back of your piece or a practice board to see what works for you.

Finally, when the gray stain was dry, I dry brushed white acrylic paint over the other two layers, again letting the wood grain pull the paint from the brush very lightly.

Overall, I like the effect, but the piece seems a little busy to me. I think I will probably paint the entire bottom of the console white and just leave the top weathered. What do you think?

Style A Springtime Tray: Spring Decor

Style a Springtime Tray: Spring Decor
It's almost time. The drip-drip-drip of melting snow falling from the roof will give way to the sound of insects chirping in the night. Birds will sing, bunnies will hop and tulips and hyacinths will poke through the ground, bringing color to the world again.

Celebrate the return of spring with a little home décor. What makes good springtime decorations? Think green! Moss, potted plants. You can even steal pieces of some faux greenery and add them to little terracotta pots (like I did).

Bunnies & Birdies
Also, bunnies and birds and other springtime animals like baby chicks or foxes. Pick them up at thrift stores: like this vintage bunny bank. Or you can purchase bird nests and ceramic birds on Amazon.

Bring Nature Indoors
Add other natural elements: wood cuttings or twigs, pretty stones and faux flowers. Mix in farmhouse style décor such as galvanized letters, small lanterns, bird cages, vintage alarm clocks, etc.

Styling Tips:

• Create vignettes or groupings
• Pair items of varying textures, sizes, and colors
• Stick to a spring color scheme (like green, brown, white)
• Anchor the bottom with larger items, smaller on top

How do you celebrate spring?
Want MORE ideas for spring? Make these flower pots with French graphic images.

Update Your Home for the New Year!

Resolutions.

We've all got 'em. Mine is pretty much always to lose weight. It lasts for a week or two until the willpower fizzles out and chocolate starts sounding way better than skinny jeans.

But one resolution we CAN keep is to update our house! You might have visited your parents or grandparents this holiday season. Maybe their homes make you jealous... or maybe you look at the same old wood paneling and dusty, outdated curtains and wonder why they never change their style. Of course, if you're like me, you go home and look at your own dusty curtains and wonder why you never change YOUR style.

Enter the Home Update Resolution!

This is the year. You can do it. It starts with some simple baby steps.

Home Update: Baby Steps

1. Clean. I know. It's no fun, but put away your pouty face and get out those rubber gloves. Wipe, vacuum, pick up. You can do it. I believe in you.


2. Declutter & Organize! Now that you've got some space on your dining table, use it as a command center. Start emptying out your kitchen cabinets and drawers. Make piles for "Keep" "Junk" and "Donate".  Anything you haven't used lately, or items that are broken... toss them. Now is NOT the time to be sentimental. Just because your great-aunt Mabel passed down that cracked ugly cookie jar does NOT mean you have to keep it. Take a photo and start a donation box.

 

Need some ideas on how to organize? Check out my Pinboard:



Here is a link to my Pinboard for organizing and decluttering.


3. Paint the Wood. Some of you will cringe when I say this. I know it is a fad right now to have white painted wood. So, you don't HAVE to do this, but if you have 70s wood paneling that isn't even real wood. Please. FOR HUMANITY. Paint that stuff white! But start with a good cleaning and some Zinsser primer first. And if you're feeling really feisty... paint your outdated wood cabinets, too!

Here is what our dining room looked like after painting the bookshelves and wood paneling.
So much brighter!


4. Change Your Curtains. Maybe they came with the house. Maybe you just don't think about them, but curtains can be like wrinkles for your house... they make it look OLD. Take a look at your favorite rooms on Pinterest. What do they have in common? I bet many of them have simple white curtains or NO curtains at all. I realize naked windows are not always practical, so if you need curtains, make them simple and clean. For our curtains, we used a package of twin flat sheets we bought on Amazon. In white. We clipped them with black curtain rings and saved a TON of money by using electric conduit instead of curtain rods (cost was around $3/rod!). Plus the conduit is WAAAAY less flimsy.

In our daughter's room, we used sheer lace curtains and metal electrical conduit for the curtain rods.
It is much cheaper and stronger than regular curtain rods!

This was our daughter's room before. No lie.

5. Paint Furniture. This is like the wood dilemma above (see #3). I know your orange-ish cabinet and your dark brown buffet and your honey blonde dining table all came from Grandma so-and-so, and she'd roll over in her grave if you painted them, but honestly... they look weird together. So many different wood tones. And they make your house so dark. Take another look at your favorite Pinterest homes. What color are the cabinets, the tables, the buffets? If they're white or gray, then you might want to consider painting your own furniture white or gray, too. Just a suggestion.

 

See what this dresser looks like after a coat of paint.

6. Update Your Art. Not ready to leap into painting furniture or rooms just yet? Try something smaller. Make a family name sign. It will add some quick and easy farmhouse charm to your home. And maybe it will even give you the redecorating bug, who knows?

 

Good luck decluttering and updating your house. Here's to a clean, fresh and beautiful NEW YEAR!

Want more farmhouse style décor? Check out this post about Galvanized Farmhouse Finds from Hobby Lobby.

Want an even EASIER way to redecorate your house? Get printable art in my Etsy shop!