"Mangy Things"

 It was the oh so perfect day and much to my pleasure it happened to be the Rt40 yard sales that ran for miles upon miles just full of "junkin' goodness"..... an UPcyclin' gals lil' slice of heaven!

 I found these thankfully at one of my first stops so I had plenty of vacant room in my blanketed trunk just waiting for something unique and special. There they lay, all heaped up in a disarray of piled beauty! I think my heartbeat just slightly fluttered as I quickly went towards the local farmer that was having the sale. "Sir, how much for the old church pew side panels?" he just looks at me with his crooked grin and wrinkled forehead and says "Now darlin' just whatcha' gonna do with those mangy ole things?" I said "Well I'm not quite too sure but I have all kinds of ideas just racing through my head! A headboard? Shelves? Heck, I would love those just hanging on my wall "as-is!" He just laughs and chuckles as he helps me load these ole beauties and proceeds to tell me they were all heaped up for a big fire he was planning on having at the end of the night with other wooden debri left behind. All I could do was GASP in horror of the thought! 

And this my friends is the mind of a true "junker" we see things entirely different and are able to visualize the potential of great shapes and texture to UPcycle it into a great useful piece of art, furniture, home decor or...maybe all of the above??

So, since we have four of these great side panels we have decided to pair two of  them up with an old solid door that we had in storage and create another hall-tree ....everyone loves a good hall-tree!

After figuring out the layout and design my husband built a sturdy new bench that would fit into where the original seat would have been. After cleaning (putty any holes you want hidden, I personally don't like the newer screws to be visible) applied a bright turquoise on the base coat to both the bench and the old door.

Next is the application of the white top coat, again I use the "dragging technique" to help blend the old wood with the newer wood. I like to work in layers to give it the illusion of having been painted many times throughout the years. Keep adding the layers until you get it as light as you want it.

I thought it would be really cool to turn this into a message board as well so I decided to go with Chalkboard paint (not to be confused with chalk paint-you will need to apply primer the base before you use the chalkboard paint-don't forget that important step).

At this same time I installed these really cool coat hooks on each side of the door keeping the chalkboard the middle focal of the piece.    

And this is what we created with rescued side panels that narrowly averted a fiery end. They now have a new look, new use and are ready for their new life as a hall-tree message board!

I chose to leave the molded detailing in its natural state for a bigger impact of the design on it.

Special surprise! The back is also a message board for those that want to display it in an open area!

Thanks so much for dropping by the studio, keep that creativity pumpin' and keep those landfills clear by reusing what you can, ya never know ...ya might just make something pretty darn cool!!!