Trash Talk Thursday: Media Apothecary

This makeover of mine was featured in the Winter 2012 issue of A Primitive Place Magazine!


This unfinished Pine media storage chest was a $5.00 Goodwill find, with handy removable drawers for storing various media discs.
I like to think of unpainted wood as the primitive décor lover’s canvas; it’s ready to be stained or painted to fit in with your own personal style. I chose a two-toned finish, with red drawers in a black chest.
Using interior flat wall paint, I applied two coats of flat black to the chest and drawer fronts. When dry, I added one coat of flat Candy Apple to the drawer fronts. I used my electric palm sander with fine grit sandpaper to gently distress just the edges & knobs, then rubbed water based wood stain over the entire surface with a cotton rag.
Media storage racks are also great for stashing craft supplies, garden seeds, photographs, fragile ornaments, or small toys in kid’s rooms. redshedvintage.com© copyright 2014

 

Trash Talk Thursday: Carvable Dollar Tree Prim Pumpkins

Although I'm not usually one to sing the praises of cheap Made in China merchandise, I do occasionally find myself drawn to Dollar Tree's seasonal supplies. At least they sell their stuff at about what it's really worth @ $1 or less, right?

I was excited to find $1.00 carvable styrofoam pumpkins at our local Dollar Tree recently! I've seen them in arts & crafts supply stores (costing a great deal more than 1 buck & being a little too large in size) and have been wanting to try them out to make a couple of permanent prim pumpkins.

I purchased only 2, as we're trying to downsize for the golden years (hah!) and decided to use one as an Autumn vase/vessel, the other as a whimsical jack-o-lantern. I painted the vase one with acrylic craft paint (1 coat, dark orange) and let it dry overnight. The next day, I dipped a cotton rag in oil-based walnut wood stain with sealer, and rubbed it evenly over both pumpkins ~ wiping the excess in a downward motion (be sure to use rubber gloves, unless you like having the dirty fingernail look for several weeks!)

After allowing the stain to dry for at least 24 hours, I gathered up a sharpie pen and some tools & gadgets to carve the jack-o-lantern.

I pressed a vintage pastry wheel tool to indent 2 wacky looking eyes, drawing over it with a permanent ink pen ~ then added a nose & mouth. I used a basic serrated table knife to carefully carve the face & a hole at the top, for adding a battery operated LED tea light candle. Since the styrofoam inside the nose & mouth was white, I added some color by rubbing an orange marker along the exposed insides. Pretty daggon' easy, and cheap to boot!  © copyright 2013 redshedvintage.com

Tune in next Thursday when I'll show you how I turned some plastic treat cups into paper maché  party cups... 

                        

 

 

Trash Talk Thursday: A Two Buck Sawbuck

A $1.00 folding wooden TV tray + a $1.00 cutting board = one easy 2 buck sawbuck! I combined these cheap thrift store finds to create some extra holiday baking space.
Newer cutting boards are usually constructed of 3 separate wood pieces. Wearing safety goggles, I wedged a flat head screwdriver between the seams & tapped with a hammer to gently separate the board panels, using the 2 end pieces to create storage space below the table.
I drilled holes through the boards into the TV tray legs, then attached the boards with wood screws. Although the wood practically matched, I opted to add 2 coats of flat black paint which I later sanded around the edges for an aged look.
© copyright 2012 redshedvintage.com
~ Check it out! This makeover of mine was featured in the Winter 2012 issue of A Primitive Place Magazine, page 81 ~

Before

 

  

 

Pour A Tall Cup Of Flags

Keeping it simple, here's a quick & easy tutorial for adding some faux age to your patriotic fabric flags...

 

I found my made in USA flags at Target, each package contained 3 flags for $1.00 ~ I really appreciate the fact that they weren't made in China.

Using the cooled morning leftovers, I poured brewed coffee into a tall drink glass & added the flags to soak for about an hour (adjust soaking time, more or less according to your preference) and turned the flags over to age the flagpole sticks as well.  

To dry, I simply put some sand in a bucket outdoors & propped the flags up in the sand to dry in the sun.