Bucket Makeover
All right...on to another project to brighten up this ol' rental of ours! The inspiration for this project was this pillow - a post-fire gift from my friend Jane over at Grit Antiques. She's always posting fun and inspirational things on her blog and Facebook page...go check it out!
Don't you love this pillow? I've recently moved it from the bedroom out to the living room...it brightens up our '80s rental couches and reminds me that although this may not be our permanent home, it IS a cozy nest filled with love and adventure! Life is what you make it!
So...we are in need of some buckets and baskets to corral magazines, blankets, books, etc. in the living room area. Of course, galavanized containers are my favorite...but it will take some time for me to build that collection again, and in the meantime I've been on the lookout for inexpensive alternatives. I found this yellow bucket at Goodwill for $3.99 a few months back. It's a nice big size and I knew I could use it for something.
The other day I was fluffing my pillow and realized that it would be fun to so something similar with this bucket. I'm not going to give you the step-by step for this project because it's exactly the same method I used for my Industrial Kitchen Canisters, and you can get the full set of directions for that project here. Instead, I'll just show you a few pics and give you some pointers!
First, I primed the bucket and then painted with two coast of chalk paint, just like I did for my canisters. Be sure that you keep your brush strokes going the same direction - it just looks nicer in the end.
Then I sanded the bucket to distress it (I love my new hand sander - one of our first post-fire tool purchases!), taped my stencils together and centered them, and "pounced" the paint on. I like to use a very light hand so that the paint does not bleed under the stencils. Again, there is a good link to this technique in the directions for my canisters.
Lastly, I lightly sanded over the lettering with a sanding pad (see canister tutorial), wiped on the wax finish, let it dry, and buffed it the next day. I am finding that I like to use the clear wax finish with a little of the antiquing wax finish mixed it, to make a light brown color. If you use only the antiquing wax, it's pretty dark and changes the entire base color. Play with it!
And here's the finished project - the perfect bucket to corral this colorful afghan, which I use almost every time I cuddle up on the couch with our NEST pillow. That afghan came in a big bag of clothing items that were donated to our family...so cozy! I am loving how the bucket looks with this little table - one of only two NEW pieces of furniture that I have purchased since the fire. I like it, of course, because it doesn't look new :). It came from Homegoods and was a $49.99 steal!
I'd love to see your chalk paint or other projects so that I can get more ideas to furnish my home! Feel free to post pics on my Facebook page, and share this project out to your page. Happy Nesting!
