Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Tuesday's Tutorial - Barn Window Message Center

Living on an old farm, I always have a great variety of old materials that I can use for crafting.



I found a whole stack of these windows just sitting in one of our old farm buildings a couple years ago. I dug them out, cleaned them up and I was planning on making some sort of cold frame or small green house with them. Turns out, old and extremely weathered windows don’t hold up to any sort of construction very well. I set them aside and moved on to my next projects, figuring that I’d find a use for them sooner or later…



I’ve wanted some sort of message center for our kitchen for awhile now and it hit me that this would be a great way to repurpose these windows. Because I still wanted to hold on to the weathered and distressed look of the windows, I didn’t bother using primer. By skipping that step, the paint really soaked into the wood showing off the grain and cracks. I used a bluish teal color for my base and then a thin coat of white on top. I finished it off by sanding the edges and adding a couple coats of polyurethane.

I used some fabric covered cork to replace the window panes. I just cut an old corkboard to the sizes I needed and then used some spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the cork. I used my hot glue gun to fasten the panels to the window.

I painted a hanging basket for our mail and used a couple thumbtacks to hold it on one of the panels.



On another panel I used my glue gun again to attach a magnet strip. Then I glued some fabric on one side of another magnet and we use this to hang small items like business cards.


I used some little screw-in hooks on the sides to hold keys and some bigger hooks and a dowel on the bottom for a towel rack and apron hanger.


I think it turned out pretty good! Even hubby likes it! I love the distressed look of the wood and the fabric is the perfect color. The only thing I might have changed would be to make a chalkboard panel using a thin piece of plywood or panel and chalkboard paint. There’s always next time. :)







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9 comments:

  1. Saw your link on facebook... This is freaking adorable!!! And so handy! There is an antique store in town that has old "junk" on their loading dock and yard area. I've always wanted to buy one of their old doors or windows but didn't know quite what to do with it. Now I know!LOL

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  2. LOL Molly! Definitely go for it! There are so many cute things you could make!! :)

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  3. Love This. What an Awesome Idea!! Sara Walton

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  4. This is great! Love the colours and a clever idea.

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  5. Your window is very pretty, I love the magnetic strip and how it's covered up and blends in. Great message board to use to years to come!

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  6. This is such a good idea. I love it. Great Job!!!

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  7. I love it!! Great idea!
    Thanks for sharing @ Anything Related!

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  8. Love what you did with this! I have an old window too, just might need to get it out of the attic!

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  9. How cute is that? My mom has some old windows that i want to use to make one of these adorable message boards! Thanks for linking up to Hoo's got talent!

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