Monday, February 7, 2011

A Horse Is Of Course A Piece Of Art

 Remember when I said I was into rustic?  (I said it here.)  Well I’ll say it again; I’m really into rustic!  Another thing I do is hang on to Pottery Barn Catalogs forever!  This planked pony art piece was in one such catalog that I’ve been hanging onto since God knows when.  I looked for something similar everywhere because God also knows I’m not paying crazy money for anything.  Since I didn’t find a suitable replica, I decided to go ahead and try to make it.   What did I have to lose?   I already had everything I needed on hand.  Since I didn’t have three separate boards like the original seems to  be constructed of, I decided to use a similar sized piece of wood that was originally the door to my crawl space.  Sorry hon!  When my husband saw I had taken it, he said we’d have one cool door for our crawl space.  As if!  I get the feeling he doesn’t much care for my brand of crazy creativity. 
Here’s how this copy cat art went down.  I had the piece of pine (or some other wood type) board.  I took three screws and a nail out of it and filled the holes with wood filler.  Then I sanded it with my ever so cute orbital sander that my hubby *swoon* bought me.  I wiped it down and took a break to clean my house.  It was starting to look like the show “Hoarders”. 

I came back later to it for staining.  I had a walnut stain left over from another project and I just used that.  Hindsight, the original piece has a more reddish tone, I probably should have used the mahogany stain I had.  Anywho, I let that dry overnight, then proceeded to clean my house some more and even visit the in-laws. 



While the stain dried, I went ahead and got a silhouette of a horse enlarged at my local Staples for $1.99.  I took this enlarged copy and glued it onto the reverse side of some contact paper.  *Remember to reverse your image.  I cut the outline of the horse from leftover contact paper; it’s cheaper than using my Silhouette vinyl. 




I stuck this vinyl cut-out onto the stained board.  *Make sure the edges are well adhered to the board otherwise your paint might seep under the edges. 

My next step was to paint sloppily over-wait that’s just me, over the silhouette with a brush.  The more visible your brush strokes are, the better!  I used leftover trim paint because it was FREE! 

Peel off the contact paper and you should have something like this. (God willing!)

This didn’t take that long to dry; only about three hours.  (I cleaned my house.)  My last step was distressing it.  I did this by calling it names such as buffoon and ninny.  (I kid!)  I just took some sandpaper; 80 grit to be precise.  I used 80 grit only because it was handy, but I recommend a finer grit. 

I had to sand straight edges across my piece to give the appearance of separate boards.  Then I sanded the edges and some choice spots here and there.  Finally, I gave it a light onceover for an overall aged look.  (I think someone’s been doing that to my face while I sleep.) 

Ah-hem, moving on, here’s my final product.  I’m as happy as a pig in poop!  Lately, I’m REALLY appreciating the crap out of Pottery Barn and their creative genius!  Oh and by the way my cost was $1.99 not $199!  How fab is that?! 

Here's the Pottery Barn version.  Isn't it gorg!!!!



The photo looks darker than it actually is.  I love you I really do-ooh!


Nydia 8)

This post is linked up here:

http://www.thegypsyscorner.com/2011/02/115th-three-or-more-tuesday-simple.html




 http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/
Photobucket

22 comments:

  1. I think you did a great job!

    Take a look at mine. I never saw the Pottery Barn one, so I didn't copy them.

    http://followyourheartwoodworking.blogspot.com/2010/11/black-horse-ranch-sign.html

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  2. Oh, this is amazing!! Don't you love when you can do something yourself!! Great job!

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  3. You did an amazing job. I love it, my daughter has a horse and I have been trying to come up with something neat for over her bed. This would be great. Thanks for sharing. Was wondering where you found the horse silhouette?

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  4. Your horse board came out stunning! i really liked it and can think of a few variations i could do at my house...thank you, donna

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  5. That is one awesome project! I adore the horsey image and vintage style. Would love for you to post this on my Fridays Unfolded linky at http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/2011/02/fridays-unfolded-5.html

    Blessings,

    Alison
    Stuff and Nonsense

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  6. This looks amazing, you did a great job

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  7. great job! I love yours!!! please come link this to our party over here: http://www.bubblynaturecreations.com/2011/02/project-party-weekend-heart-shaped-ice.html

    Have a great weekend!

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  8. this is very good, I passed your idea on to a fellow bloggers who has horses. She might like to make this for herself...thanks! Mel's Cabin loves blog hoppers if you're in the area.

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  9. what a wonderful idea! thanks for sharing

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  10. It looks great! My mom has horses and would love something like this. Can I ask how big it is?

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  11. The Treasurista said...
    Hop on over to the Party! Would love for you to link-up @

    http://thetreasurista.blogspot.com/p/treasuristas-thursday-treasures-come.html

    The Treasurista
    Finding and Creating FUN things...

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  12. popped over from Funky Junk's link party and I love your PB knockoff. Looks great! You gotta love the $1.99 price too. : )

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  13. I have to say I like yours better, and not just because of the price tag!

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  14. I have to do this, but not with a horse.

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  15. I did it! I did it!! I did my horse. Thank you so much for telling us all how. Gonna post mine in the next day or two, and of coarse will give credit where credit is due (to you), and your lovely blog.

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  16. this is fantastic!!! i LOVE it! i will be trying this with a silhouette of one of our horses. i am your newest follower!
    Amy
    www.Sistersofthewildwest.blogspot.com

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  17. How did you get the horse to stick to the stained piece of wood? I've read through it a couple times, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe it's the fact that i've been sick since Monday and my cold meds are taking over! I love the piece, just not quite sure how to do it. Thanks.

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  18. WOW!!! So impressed with your genius!! And you are tooo funny girl!;) I think someone's been doing that very same "aging" effect on my face at night too! hee hee!
    xo,
    Shellagh

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  19. Love it... thanks for the instructions and I can't wait to make this for my daughters room.

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  20. Oh goodness I'm so sorry April, I didn't see your comment before. The horse silhouette is made of vinyl and vinyl sticks onto surfaces. What I actually used is dollar store shelf liner. I hope this helps.

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