For the Love of Pallets

I've been sewing a lot and not doing much

painting or furniture

because of the cold weather.

 

So how could I say no when I was asked to help out with the upcoming stake roadshow sets by

 painting some pallets

 

It gave me the chance to finally do some pallet art and not just have a

board on pinterest

full of ideas that I'd like to do one day.

 

So I said yes and then wisely

 recruited some of my friends and they all got on

 "board"

to help get them done.

 

So here's what the pallet looked like before we started.

(not your typical old pallet, this baby was solid and took a lot of effort to get apart)

 

 

Had to pull off every board but the bottom and then pull out all of these amazing rusty nails.

 

Don't let their beauty deceive you, they're sharp and after a little run in with one

 I got to go and get a tetanus shot. 

 

Thank goodness for

health care as

it cost nothing and took 15 minutes.

 

 

After all the nails were removed, I sanded the edges of each board and then fit them back on the front to have a nice solid surface. 

 

I ended up using all of the old nails to put the boards back

 on because they were just too darn

 pretty and rusty

 to throw away.

 

 

Then came the fun part...the painting.

I decided to do a mustache for my first one and cut

myself a template from

cardboard and traced it on.

 

 

Then I picked a darker colour and outlined the image.

 

 

I sanded down some of the edges and flat areas.

 

 

Now I needed to age it and used my trusty old vinegar and steel wool mixture that I used during the summer on this coffee table.  It totally greyed the paint and started to turn the wood brown.

 

 

I then added a lighter blue on top using a dry brush and hardly any paint.

I also was not loving the reddish brown on the mustache and used some dark walnut stain to make it pop a little more.

 

 

Here's a closeup of the piece.

 

 

I really love the wood peeking though.

 

 

So only nine more to show. 

It's going to be quite exciting to see what everyone else does.

 

 

linking with

diybydesign
savvysouthernstyle
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frommyfrontporchtoyours 

the36thavenue 

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myrepurposedlife
alittleknickknack
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