Boxwood Wreath Entry Way Makeover
7:22 AM
On a recent post I said to stay tuned for what I would do with a new preserved boxwood wreath.
Here is that post.
This project was inspired by Miss Mustard Seed and all she does with boxwood wreaths. I couldn't even link to one of her projects, I had to link to the search result of all of the boxwood wreath stuff, because she even named a color of milk paint after it. She's pretty amazing.
Anyway, I finally bought a preserved boxwood wreath when Décor Steals offered one on their daily sales. And then I had about a billion ideas floating around for it, and some of those ideas just didn't work out (see the end of this previous post). And as with much of what I begin to paint, I have a freak out, "oh no, this is not going to work" moment (okay, like a day), and then suddenly the project starts to take shape and it somehow comes together. Don't be afraid to dive in sometimes, because even if the end product isn't what you imagined, it may turn out far better than you could have ever imagined. Life words right there. Have faith.
As is typical of me, I was anxious to get started in my 15 minutes of free time while babies were napping and didn't get a good before picture. We had this galvanized magnetic board hanging on this wall to hold Christmas cards, birthday invitations, save the dates, etc. Things that now-a-days have pretty family pictures on them and you don't want to discard them for awhile. I liked it, but felt like it wasn't 'fan-cay' enough. Enter boxwood wreath...
I took the thing down and started unscrewing and hammering the metal out of the frame. Do not let your ten year old take off with all the screws/nails, you may spend 20 minutes looking for them later.
The galvanized metal piece had a few gummed up places from what I think was a price tag and such, but I had never seen this until I took it out in the sunlight. Word to the wise, sunlight is your best friend for any paint/redo project. Natural light helps you find all the problem areas, shows you the true colors and helps you get vitamin D to stay sane.
I took a razor blade and got the gummy stuff off, then cleaned the surface and laid the metal piece flat to spray paint it with chalkpaint. There were a few remarks from my husband about my recent obsession with chalkboard paint. I know. I know. But if you have a can of paint, use it up, right?! And so I did... and that's where things get real on this post:
The bottom of the above picture is sprayed oh-so-smoothly with Krylon. The top is graffiti style Rustoleum. Not the look I was going for. I'm going to be fair and say that it got slightly more humid that afternoon when I used Rustoleum, but that's a huge difference.
I used a sanding wedge to sand the whole thing out, and to my surprise, it all sanded out pretty smooth and even! I used the tack cloth to wipe it clean and pick up all the sanding debris.
Moving on to the frame.
The frame had a split in the wood that I fixed with Briwax Chair fix. This stuff is a bit pricy, but I've had this bottle for 2 years now and have fixed at least 5 projects with plenty still remaining.
I put a clamp on the wood to hold it together while the glue dried, and painted other areas while that dried.
I used General Finishes milkpaint in Somerset Gold. There is a Woodcraft local to me that sends coupons if you give them your email address. I didn't have to distress the frame, because I only applied one coat of paint with a foam brush and it covered just right.
After I found all those screws and put the board back in the frame, I rubbed a piece of chalk sideways all over it to give it that broke-in look.
Before I hung the board back on the wall, I put another screw in the wall that would act as an anchor for the wreath (screw was placed in the center of where the board would hang). I tied twine to the wreath hanging wire, then to the anchor screw I placed.
The ribbon covers the twine up. Then I wrote a favorite verse with my chalkboard marker.
The cross hanging in the center is made out of horseshoe nails. My step dad made it for me and I tied it to my bouquet for my wedding.
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| Photo by http://heathercookelliott.com/ |
I love the way it turned out. A place to hold special pictures and announcements from loved ones. It hangs in our entry way as a reminder that,
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