Interior Design: Rustic Wall Sconce
Indoor Decorative: Rustic Wood Wall Sconces
I first got the idea for a rustic wall vase/sconce from the website, Shanty-2-Chic.com. She created these three different wall sconces (vase + key hook, wine bottle wall vase, and industrial sconces), which gave me the idea to modify these three for our little space.. but to include fresh plants, which we love. Since we have a bay window (is that what it is? a bay window? Kind of. You look at the photos in a later post and decide!), we’d love to give the interior walls a little personality.
The goods (cost us approx. $40):
- 10”x6’ piece of poplar wood (you’ll see why we chose this later)
- Minwax wood stain in “Jacobean”
- Stain sponges, paint paper
- Glass jars
- Ring hanger, keyhole fasteners
- Terrarium plants, potting soil, rocks (from our backyard)
(Anyone need rocks? We have so much in our backyard.. please take it..)
To start:
1. We cut the board down into several 8”x10” pieces. We only needed four for our “bay window,” so we used the extra boards to play with other stains we had, maybe to give to friends and family. Jake wanted to make a shield :)
2. After cutting down the boards, we sanded them as smooth as we could get.
3. Once all sanded, and wiped down, we stained the wood plates. We laid the stain on thick, but you’ll see that the poplar soaks it in quickly, and the grain gives off this gorgeous, rustic effect. It’s really stunning. So stunning, that we skipped over the gloss part (but you may want to gloss).
4. We left the wood to dry two days before handling it again, and in the meantime, went out to buy the hardware, glass and plants to finish the project. And try Taco Bell’s new Doritos Locos Taco. (For the record.. its delish. But oh-so bad for you)
5. After marking where we want our our hanger and our keyhole, we drilled with a small bit in each side of each board. We started with the ring hangers first, and screwed in the base. We flipped over each board, and hanging the ringer off the side of a table so the board is flat, we screwed in the keyhole.
6. Once everything is secured, we filled the glasses with our plants. You can use votive candles, beach glass, or anything you want- but we love our greenery, so we had to plant! Use the screws that come with the ring hangers to secure the glasses on the board.
7. And -wah.lah!- here it is! What do you think? Didn’t the dark wood come out gorgeous??
Stay tuned- you’ll see these guys included in the living room- but we’re busy fixing that up :) We are also making a “piece of art” using a wood pallet, using the same method as above.. we’ll post that, too!
Backyard Shenanigans
Yerp, lots of good, dirty stuff going on at the house. One thing that’s made it way easier to tackle this beast of a home is the early spring we’re getting-
These daffodils popped up (nearly) overnight. It was a pretty cool surprise because since we’re only renting, we didn’t plant them, hence, weren’t expecting them. But they sure are purty.
But what I’m really lurving is the cherry blossom. It’s covered the entire backyard in it’s tiny pink flowers like a delicate strung rug.
We’re trying to soak up as much Vitamin D au naturale as possible. Drew did that by bricklaying on the roof for ten hours today..
And for a close-up..
He was also busy adding a side “door” to try and stop would-be thieves from coming back (again)-
I think the barbed wire is a nice touch, no? Do you think the “Beware of Dog” sign is believable? Me neither, but here’s hoping it’ll be convincing enough to a scurrying crackhead (our likely thief).
He’s also devised a new way to unload some of this unusable old wood-
Thanks to the drum kings of Camden (seriously, thanks guys!) Drew’s been able to slowly finish off this (HOPEFULLY) last pile of wood by way of fire & steel drum:
As for the rest of the yard, someone went hack crazy with a sledgehammer, AND THE CONCRETE IS ALL GONE, or nearly anyway, in lots of places. Like the entire backyard/future verandah..
And it’s patchy gone in the front too-
It’s admittedly pretty disjointed/ugly, and I don’t know when new concrete will be laid (I’m thinking it’ll be awhile), but, uh, it’s a step, right? I suppose when you compare it to these, then, yeah:
So that’s where we’re standing outside-wise. There’s SO MUCH stuff going on inside (!), too, its gaspable (literally, I’ve gasped the past few days in a row when I make my rounds after work like a little kid on Christmas morning first sighting the presents). But I’ll get to that next time.
Hope you’re getting your own bit of sun!
