DIY Candlesticks From Old Banisters

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Hello sweet friends! I recently went to South Carolina for a workshop and to meet one of my favorite YouTubers, Debi’s Design Diary. On the days leading up to the trip I told my husband that I wanted to stop by every single second hand, thrift or antique store along the way. 

I love thrifting but I will be honest, by the end of last year I was so burned out. And I needed to go and take a fun break and just look at pretty things instead of make pretty things for a change. Of course, I could not help myself and I ended up buying things to DIY anyways. I share more about the trip here. 

In one of the shops, I found these cute mini cloches at only 50 cents each so naturally I picked them up. I didn’t have a plan for them right away, but I knew I wanted to incorporate them into some candle holders of some type. 

Oh and did I mention, I have a huge announcement in this post? Keep reading to see what it is! 

After we came back from our trip I came across a FB Marketplace listing for a couple of banisters a lady was selling for $10 for the pair. I quickly went by and picked them up.

Aren’t they amazing?!

My husband and I had been working with our bathroom renovation and he had his power tools out, so I quickly asked him to cut them down for me. I had him cut them at differing heights.

He also cut the bolts off at the bottom of each. 

I recently purchased this box of wooden rings for another project and decided to use two of them for the tops of the candleholders. This gave it a more finished look (instead of it looking like it had been cut off).

I used some wood glue to adhere them. 

And I placed something heavy to hold them down while they dried. 

Since sage is the color of the year, I thought I would go with DIY Paint’s Gypsy Green and on that note….. 

I will actually be selling these paints very shortly!

I met Debi last month and she is a fan of my Youtube channel (as much as I am of hers) and she brought up the idea of me selling her paints. After so much deliberation (cause I overthink) and a couple of conversations, I thought I would take the leap of faith. I mean, I talk about her clear wax all the time anyway. LOL! 

So right now I am setting up everything behind the scenes so I can get started and sell them in my online shop. 

Her paint is highly pigmented and is made of only 9 all natural ingredients. Because it is clay based it has amazing coverage and dries with a chalky feel. 

It’s great for both small and large projects. And I will even be carrying sample size paints as well for smaller projects like this! 

I love the look and feel of it and I cannot wait to show you more from her line.

Now back to the candlesticks… I could have left them with one coat, but I went ahead and did a second since the banister was stained such a dark color to begin with. 

After they dried I used some of her clear wax (it’s my favorite!) It deepens the color and seals the surface so smoothly. 

While it was still tacky I sprinkled some of DIY Paint’s white Decrepit Dust and worked it into the paint strokes and all of the nooks and crannies with my brush. 

I also incorporated some of the DIY Paint’s white wax to bring out the creases even more. 

Then I wiped off the excess with clean cloth that was just a little damp. As you can see I also distressed some of the edges a bit. You can see the different after I removed the excess on the bottom part of the candlestick. 

Next I took some E6000 and applied it to the top rings so that I could adhere the mini glass cloches. 

I even used a small level to make sure they stuck on straight. 

And that was it! I think this is probably one of my best DIYs yet! 

It’s like the mini cloches were meant for these banister legs! Such a perfect fit. Can you tell these were DIY candlesticks from old banisters?

I think the distressing is just the perfect amount and the white wax gives it an aged look. And I even put felt underneath them to protect my furniture surfaces. 

What’s even more exciting is that I was able to make these book ends from one of the banister tops as well! And I still have more banister pieces left to make more projects! 

If you are interested in how I made these, you can watch how I made these here. 

Let me know what you think of these and feel free to share this with your crafty friends! Let me know what you think below. 

DIY Candlesticks From Old Banisters

I will see you soon with another DIY! 

Until then… adios! 

 

*Some of the links are affiliate links for your convenience. Please see full disclosure here*

Happy Wednesday! Hope you all are having a great week.

It’s been a while since I have made over a piece of furniture and frankly I was itching to. I love creating home decor DIY’s but my love of DIYing in general came from when I made over my very first piece of furniture (be kind?). 

I purchased this cute table months ago at Goodwill for only $13 and it has been looking at me begging me to make it over. 

The top of it was pretty damaged so I knew I had to repair it first. 

I used 2 different sanders for this. The first one was an orbital sander and I used 120 Grit to take the top layer off. 

The second was this JobMax Multi-Tool so I could get in those tight corners. This tool is pretty handy because it has different heads you can change out for different projects around the house. 

After I was done with the Multi-Tool I went back with the orbital sander (220 Grit) to give it a smooth finish. I also lightly sanded the other two tops, but just enough to make the paint stick. 

RELATED: Ikea Table Hack with Chalk Paint

>>>VIDEO TUTORIAL HERE<<<

I wiped everything with a damp cloth and I was ready to paint. I used Folkart Home Decor Chalk Paint in the color Hazy (the perfect gray blue). 

I gave the table 2 coats. 

If you are looking for affordable chalk paint brushes, these are the ones I use. 

After both coats were dry I went in with a small piece of sand paper (220 GRIT) to distress the table. 

Here is what the table looked like at this stage. 

The next step was to seal it with wax, and this is where the magic happened. I used Folkart Home Decor Clear Wax. 

I like to use a lint free cloth and just work it into the surface, removing any excess as I go. 

One thing to note… if you have 2 surfaces you are sealing with wax (wood and paint) then make sure to use a new cloth for the paint. Or else you run the risk of the wood color rubbing off the cloth and onto your painted surface. 

After letting it dry for over 24 hours here’s how it turned out. 

She’s perfect and goes with my coastal farmhouse style. 

The top just pops against that blue. I am so glad I left it natural. 

The shelves are perfect for books too. I went ahead and laid Lisa’s book Simple Farmhouse Life on the middle shelf. Have you checked her book out yet? She’s one of my favorite Youtubers. 

Now that I got bit by the bug, I have plans for another table I got for FREE on FB Marketplace back in February. 

What do you think of this little table flip? 

Don’t forget to share with your crafty friends and I will see you all next time!  

Until then… adios! 

Thrift Store Makeovers Episode 1

*Some of the links below are affiliate links, for a better explanation, please see full disclosure here*

Happy Monday! 

I have a thrifted DIY for you all today, but this one is coming from a different angle. 

Usually when I share a post like this, I share clear step by step tutorials that work out fine, but unfortunately not all of my DIY’s turn out that way. As a matter of fact, some of them hit some bumps and this one was one of them indeed. 

Oh yes… ??‍♀️

So for this post, I thought  I would share everything I did (that I ended up NOT liking) and then the simple steps I took to actually get it to look the way I wanted to in the end. 

Sometimes, it’s too easy to complicate things and that is just what I did here, but hey, we are all human. 

Supplies I used (including some that didn’t make it to the end result):

• Brushed Metal in Brushed Bronze 
• White Chalk Paint 
• Antiquing Wax: 
• Folkart Acrylic Paint in Peppercorn

Last week, I shared my thrift haul on my Youtube channel and I shared this cute metal tin.  I loved the pattern and style, just not the color. 

So I thought I would add some Peppercorn (which I LOVE by the way) to the base. 

Then I added some Brushed Bronze to the top and bottom legs. This is the same Brushed Bronze paint I used on my faux vintage bells. 

I even dry-brushed some on the peppercorn. 

Then I dry-brushed some of my white chalk paint. 

But it looked too intense. So I decided to add watered-down chalk paint to all of it and then wipe it off. 

 

Talk about disaster!

I had to step back a minute and relax and rethink this through. 

After an hour or so I came back and went back to the beginning. This time I painted everything (except for the feet and round handles) with the Brushed Bronze. 

And then to age it, I mixed a little bit of the white chalk paint with the antiquing wax and literally began to finger paint! It was like I was back in elementary school. 

And guess what?! 

I actually had fun this time around!

As it turns out, that was all this piece needed. 

So simple, yet so chic. 

I love the textures and the bright bronze along with the white distressed look. 

I added a little greenery and it was perfect. 

And check out this side-by-side! 

I was also happy to try out a new color. I love all things white, but this goes perfect with so many things as well (like my neutral Valentine’s DIY’s)

Since I was so happy with how this turned out I tried my had at another thrift store flip…

I love finding cute little urns in thrift stores and it doesn’t matter what they are made out of, you can give them a faux cement look! This is actually the second time I have done this and now I want to have a little collection of them. 

If you are interested in seeing how I made this little urn look like a cement one, you can see the steps in the video below:

Timestamp: 3:19

Thrift Store Makeovers Episode 1

I asked my subscribers if they were interested in a thrift store makeover series and the votes are in! They loved it so I will be sharing more thrift store transformations like this! 

As always, don’t forget to share this with someone who would love it!

You can PIN it here.

 

 

I will see you soon! Until then, adios! 

 

 

So remember when I shared my last thrift store haul and I had purchased that obnoxiously red basket for $2.52?

Well, it was finally time to give it a facelift!

It was perfect timing too, because I was able to finish it just in time for the $5 Goodwill Seasonal Challenge hosted by Hillary at Old World Home. This challenge is always so fun because there are so many great videos on how to up-cycle thrift store items into beautiful pieces without spending more than $5 at the thrift store.

The best thing about this transformation is that it’s super easy and only required paint!

Paint I used: 

*some of the links are affiliate links*

• Martha Stewart Vintage Decor Paint in Tilled Soil
• Folk Art Home Decor Chalk Paint in Parisian Grey
• Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint in Linen White

Here’s what I did:

So first, I used the Tilled Soil paint and gave the basket 2 coats, making sure the red was completely covered.

Then once the paint was fairly dry, I dry-brushed the Parisian Grey paint making light strokes all over the basket.I didn’t want the basket looking too brown.

By adding the gray throughout it gave it a more weathered look.

And finally I added my favorite paint, Linen White to give it that coastal driftwood feel.

I dry-brushed it on as well making sure to get both the inside and outside of the basket.

Then I had my little helper (aka 6 year old daughter, Natalia) help me decorate the basket with pumpkins I had from last year.

You can see her in the full tutorial below.

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And that was basically it! Like my daughter says, “Easy peasy lemon squeezy!”

I love how it turned out and I am so happy that I was able to grab that basket before anyone else did. It was in perfect condition, it just needed a little TLC…

And it looks so good with my neutral pumpkins & fall decor this year.

Have you ever purchased a basket at Goodwill?

Let me know below!