My Challenge.Numbered Upcycled Stair Step Display

  2805 Potpourri Friday     So happy that this post was featured ... 
Thanks Honey at 2805.

A real Challenge …

 Challenges met with courage build endurance and strengthen faith.

Be strong and of a good courage … for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:9

Don’t know what this challenge taught me … maybe more confidence in myself.

 

My inspiration came from this shelf unit I saw on eBay and it sold for over $200.00. It was blue, very shabby and weathered. 

I said … that is a piece of cake, I can make one of those. Don’t know why I wanted one, but just wanted the challenge, and I had the courage … (and the help from Mr. Z.)

Well, when I was getting ready for our annual Subdivision Garage Sale, I decided a stair-step shelf would be nice to have for display and offer for sale.

I took these seven wonderful pieces of knotty pine boards that I bought at a thrift for $3.00, thinking I would someday paint some signs and built this stair-step display instead.

 I am sorry, but I had to get rid of Dancer, Donder, Dasher and Comet and the other Reindeer.  I sanded but tried to leave traces of the red and white paint along with the green.  This is how it ended up.

 
Shelves are about 24" across ... 
about 5½" deep and the shelf unit is about 24" tall and 22" deep. 
Open in the back.

 

 

We used new board for the sides, so those were intentionally banged up a bit to age. Paint and stain was added to hopefully match up with the old boards. Before painting the steps with my DIY white chalk paint, I smeared Vaseline in several areas, especially on the knots so the paint would not adhere there. Do that and the paint will wipe right off and give you a natural peeling look.

 

Heavy sanding continued the aging process.

I set up a display on my front porch until I could find time to number the shelves.
You can click on the picture for a better view.

   

The lighting in the next pictures is a little different so the shelf looks much lighter.

The numbers were printed on my Laser printer in a mirror image and then transferred with a hot iron. This is effective to achieve the time-worn look, but it will also remove some of the paint in the process. Keep the paper hot while peeling it off and that helps with less loss of paint. 

Love the  knots !!!  

This was a challenge, but I was very happy with the way it turned out. It sold very quickly in my garage sale …(under priced, I am sure) … to a dealer opening a new booth in a shop. She was most happy and bought most of things that we had up-cycled for this sale.

 

I love to re-purpose and up-cycle and will continue to do that with my collection of junk around here as long as I am able to do so. 

Looks great with just a few plants on it. 

Hope you enjoyed seeing my challenge.

Don't think I want to build another one though.

What are you re-purposing/re-cycling and saving from the dump?

Blessings,

Audrey Z.

Linking to: 2805 Potpourri Friday

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense