I have been drawn to hardware stores since I was a child. In addition to the usual array of nuts and bolts, you can find a fun mix of wonderful items like kitschy kitchen towels, fancy drawer pulls, garden accessories, a full spectrum of paint chips, cute key tags, postcards, doormats, beach toys and much more. The employees at our local hardware store are helpful, friendly and they love to see my offbeat trash-to-treasures I'm working on.
Last week I needed two 1" wide wood boards for a spice rack that I was transforming into a two-tier shelf for my daughter's dorm room. The associate that helped me suggested inexpensive paint sticks might just fit the bill. He was right! They were the perfect width and length. With just a tiny inset cut on each end, the paint sticks were the answer to my broken spice rack. Here it is when I spotted it at a yard sale:
The shelf design lends itself to a vintage, distressed technique. However, this is for my college daughter, and she requested bright and sassy! She chose a neon yellow color. After two coats of paint, I podged strips of fun Chevron yellow & gray paper to both shelves.
I transformed a mini photo frame into a chalkboard, and glued it to the top of the rack.
For added pizazz, we adhered even more Chevron--this time, bright ribbon to the back boards (the ones I added from the hardware store) and white buttons to the front of the shelf.
It's bright, sassy and fun (just like my daughter). She loves it!
Maybe I have to re-think this whole vintage trend.
Since I'm an equal-opportunity Mom, I thought I would share this personalized stamped washer necklace I made a few years ago for my older daughter. It was my first attempt at metal stamping. I used two different sized washers, one stamped with her name, and the larger one with her sorority name. It was a big hit with her sorority sisters. Wouldn't this be a fun project for the girls to create on their weekend retreat?
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