Ok, so I know that all things white, chippy, and rusty are really "in" right now, and technically our mailbox fit that description. But......it wasn't pretty, it was just sad. And it almost completely blended in with the siding. I'm surprised the mailman could even find it without a metal detector. In fact, I'm sure he couldn't a few times.
Well, the other day the landlord & landlady (is that a correct term?) stopped by for some such thing or another, and the Mrs. and I got to talking about the exterior of the house and she mentioned wanting to spruce it up a bit and paint the shutters black instead of red, etc. So, after that I felt I had the green light to do a little makeover.
I took it down, sanded the rusty/chippy spots, put a nice layer of primer on to conceal the rust, then a few coats of Oil Rubbed Bronze. I finished it off with some Antique Gold Rub-n-Buff to age it a bit and pick up the details of the emblem.
Much improved, dontcha think? Especially for free. And now the mailman has no excuse for delivering our mail to the neighbors anymore.
The other project I worked on today was this bench. (I forgot to take a before picture and had already started painting it when I remembered.) I bought it at the Restore a few months ago for $2. It's just a picnic table bench, and it was wobbly, and missing the rest of it's furniture family. But I saw past all of that and knew it had potential. (Even though my husband once again questioned my sanity.)
Sweet little Gretchen was keeping watch while soaking up some sun.
A couple of months later I found a brand new can of beautiful red paint (I have a thing for red) at the Restore for $3. I was pretty certain that as weathered and rough as the bench was that if I dry-brushed one coat of the red onto it that it would soak it up pretty good and leave me with the old weathered barn-wood look that I love.
And I was right.
I love how it turned out. And even Hubster had to admit I do have a brain in my head. He even helped me pound a few nails to make it sturdy again.
I don't have it all decorated just yet, but now that weather is warming up it won't be long and it'll be lookin' purdy. It kind of blends in with the existing wood on the porch, and I think I'd like to paint a layer of sage green over the red to give it the "multiple layers of old paint" look. But, I'm cheap thrifty and I'm not going to go out and buy the paint just for that. I'll wait for another good find at the Restore or until I buy it for another project.
Anyhoo....that was a bit of my Saturday projects.
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As usual - very inspiring, Stephanie. Love your style.
ReplyDeleteAs often as I visit the ReStore, I'm surprised I haven't met you there. :)
It all looks lovely, but I like the bench the best ;)
ReplyDeleteYour mailbox make-over is great! Love the bench, and the bench vignette you created is darling!
ReplyDelete~Amanda
Nice job!
ReplyDelete