Red Chippy Box

During this summer's drought, I only watered when absolutely necessary, so the garden is looking pretty shabby.  This winter I'm going to plan for an overhaul of half of the backyard next spring.

In the meantime, I've been slowing cleaning out the garden, and I decided this planter box has seen its better days.

I built it about 11 years ago out of scraps from a deck and fence project.  I really didn't have any sort of plan when I built it, so I'm pretty amazed it held together for so long.

I unscrewed the side panels, trimmed the weathered ends and built a little box.  On a whim, I added the little feet.  Aren't they cute?

 

I used a palm sander and a Dremel to wear down all the edges.  Originally, I was going to leave it natural, but the wood was so bowed from being outside, I had to use a lot of wood putty to fill the joints.  Now, I'm so glad I painted it.

 

 

It took the better part of an afternoon to get the effect I wanted.  It was worth the time spent!

 

So how did I get the look?  Chalk paint?  Milk paint?

Nope.  It's all just typical craft store stuff!

Start with a brown acrylic craft paint for the base coat.  Follow with black acrylic craft paint for the second coat.  I think starting with brown keeps the black from seeming too stark when the layers are sanded away.

Next, apply one coat of Weathered Wood Crackle Medium (follow the directions on the package).  Top coat of Cadmium Red acrylic craft paint.

Sand, sand, sand.  Complete with Minwax Paste Finishing Wax.

I can't describe how amazingly soft the wood feels.  The wax really makes the box feel old.

Then again, I used 11+ year old wood to build it.  Let's see those feet one more time.

 

 

I'm linking up...

Funky Junk Interiors