I've been wanting to do a "grain sack" inspired piece for a while now, actually over a year, but I just haven't had the perfect piece for it. But when I got this little bench/storage chest out of storage, it actually belonged to my grandma and when ever we went to her house to play it was always filled with toys and treasures, I knew it would be perfect for this treatment!
It was painted some time ago a white color, and the paint was peeling and looked a little "dingy" but I just went with it and decided not to fix any of its imperfections. I wanted it took look like it was painted decades ago and worn over time.
I took this picture during the middle of the day and the bench sits right in front of our sliding glass door so I was fighting the light with my pictures but you get the idea!
It was a pretty easy and quick project! I used my handy painter's tape, in two different sizes .90 inches and .70 inches. I used two pieces of the .90 inch painters tape side-by-side for my two thick stripes, so they are just under 2 inches wide each. Then I left a .70" space, by using the thinner painter's tape, between the thick stripe and the thinner stripe which is also .70" thick. Basically I hate measuring so I used the painters tape to help me achieve somewhat straight lines without measuring ;). I painted the stripes and the words in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Aubosson Blue.
Next I painting on the words which I got from http://thegraphicsfairy.com, this site is amazing! So many free graphics and tutorials! This is the specific graphic I used http://thegraphicsfairy.com/transfer-printable-french-grain-sack-with-wheat-wreath/
I decided not to use the wheat wreath since I didn't have a good small paint brush for doing the detail work that would have been involved. But I still love how it turned out!
In order to transfer the image on to my bench I printed it out first on regular printer paper, and then rubbed the back of the paper using a pastel crayon. Next I taped it on the bench with the pastel against the bench and the image facing outwards. Then I pushed firmly around the edges of the letters with a ball point pen and finally I went in with my paint brush and filled in the lines.
Like I mentioned I didn't have a very good quality small paintbrush so my letters are definitely not perfect. But I just went with it! Sometimes you got to just work with what you've got! When I was all finished I gave the stripes and the letters a light sanding with my sanding block, just to rough it up and give it that timeworn look I was going for.
This bench is in the same area in my house the stripped dresser I just posted about it.
You can read about it here if you missed it. I've got a little navy blue theme going on in here, can you tell?! I'm excited to share this whole little corner of our home with you soon!
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