06/24/2014

Barn Wood 4th of July Design

Always thrilled to be making something and I love how this American flag design turned out for the 4th of July!

I was able to obtain boards of reclaimed barn wood from a remodeling site. Immediately, an American flag came across my mind. I gathered up supplies and began the transformation.

The board was longer than I needed so I used my husbands cordless saw to cut a foot or so off of it. My husband made me laugh when he asked me, as I was starting up the saw, “Are going to measure how much to take off before cutting it?”. I love his keen sense of preciseness! However, since the size was up to me, I just “eyed” it and gave it a chop. The piece ended up being exactly 31 inches.

If you want, you can use heavy grade sandpaper to smooth the edges. I like the rustic look so I skipped any sanding and went straight to painting.

At first, I thought about writing “God Bless” (in turquoise) on top of the finished painted flag. Therefore, I added a touch of turquoise paint with a dry brush technique as a base coat (planning that a little of it would shine through the entire piece and complement the words). However, I decided to leave this design without words and will add some to the next one I make!

I used blue painters tape (1 1/2 inches in width) to mark off where I wanted to paint the blue section of my flag design.

Again, with a dry brush technique, I added Primary Blue paint by Americana to the barn wood.

Once that dried, I taped off the barn wood so I could add the white stripes.

I let the white part dry (only takes a few minutes with dry brushing).

Then, I placed blue painters tape over the white stripes to protect that part when applying the red stripes.

Time to add stars! I used a manilla folder to make a stencil to add a few stars.

I cut the star shape out with an X-Acto knife (make sure to have cardboard or thick paper under what you are cutting out so you do not damage your furniture).

It is possible to just paint on the stars. However, I wanted a more distressed (weathered) look to the entire piece. Using the stencil (and stencil brush) helped me achieve this look when adding the stars. Also, in order to tone down the brightness of the blue paint, I did dry brush Sand Bleach by Americana (to this section before adding the stars) to give it a more aged appearance.