Before & After - Candle sticks

Last year Nick and I had a long weekend away in the Southern Highlands and happened to drive by some local markets. Being the dedicated bargain hunter that I am I braved the rain and the mud and hubby's displeasure at the thought of dirty shoes in the new Volvo (we had only just picked up the new car in Sydney the day before) in order to snag myself some treasure!

Thankfully it was all worth it  (even though I had to take my shoes off lol!) and I found these fabulous candle sticks. 

To be honest I can't even remember how much they were, I think maybe $6 each and they stand 45cm tall.

 

 

The before wasn't too bad but I wanted them to have a lighter finish to suit our house.

I started by giving the candle sticks a wipe over to make sure they were clean, I didn't bother sanding them.

I used some left over door and trim paint (the stuff we used to paint the doors and skirting boards in our house) and applied it to the candle sticks with a small paint brush.

In order to get an aged finish I took a slightly damp chux cloth and started wiping the paint off.

It is easy to wipe off too much paint if you're not careful, I just keep applying paint and wiping off until I get the finish I am happy with.

I love how the darker colours come through the white and create grey tones.

I

I used some twine to add some clay heart tags that I made and stamped, popped on some candles and voila, all done!

Which do you prefer before or after?

I think they would look quite good in a gloss black or gloss red finish too,

maybe for their next makeover......

xx

I realised tonight that I (we) have completed a few projects that I forgot about and that I should share. The first that springs to mind was the little (relatively) one that I finished on the weekend, (Yes.... while Nick was out working up a sweat on the digger). Originally I wanted to create an Apothecary Jar like I found here http://http//shanty2chic.blogspot.com/2009/09/whitneys-diy-apothacary-jars-too-darn.html

This was what I started with........ The next step led me to here..... But then when I assembled it all..... it looked wrong. I didn't like it and I put it aside in the too hard basket. Until I received the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens... Guess what, they used similar items to create the cutest candle sticks. So next time we were in Bunnings.... of course I convinced my Wonderful Husband that I had to buy more supplies to create a trio of cute candlestick.. just like I have always wanted. Lo and behold... my project....

...and while I was in Bunnings (did I mention that we almost... not quite...but almost live there) I bought glitter spray, both gold and silver (well Christmas is approaching).

I experimented with the gold glitter spray.

then... I played with the silver glitter spray.

...and I ended up with this. Cute new candle sticks and cute silver (as well as gold) pine cones.