Old farm-style panel windows are ALL the rage right now.
There are SO many uses that people are scooping them up left, right & centre. Picture frames, DIY stained glass projects, wedding decor – the possibilities are endless!
But once you have your old, rustic window, you may fix it up to suit your decor.
That’s what I did 🙂
I picked up this old window from a woman I met on the Bridal Group I’m in for super cheap – $10!
It was in rough shape, but the rustic charm appealed to me. Colours are WAY wrong though, so I set out to do DIY it!
STEP 1 – SANDING
I started by sanding down the roughest spots – the big nicks and the peeling paint chips. Once I was satisfied, I gave it a quick wipe down to remove the dust and brought it inside.
STEP 2 – APPLY BASE PAINT COLOUR
The next step was to apply the base coat. I chose this grey chalk paint. I’m in love with chalk paint – the colour, the texture, the finish and how easy it is to clean up!
I did 2 coats of the grey to really make sure any of the remaining blue paint was well covered. Sorry I don’t have any pictures of this step :/
STEP 3 – APPLY TOP PAINT COLOUR
Once dry, I painted over the grey with a white chalk paint. I had this one laying around from another project I did last fall.
Again, I applied 2 coats of the top paint colour.
Make sure the paint is thoroughly dry. I let mine go 48 hours.
STEP 4 – DISTRESSING
I wanted my window to look aged and distressed, but didn’t want it to look too rough, if that makes any sense 😛 I used a medium grit sandpaper folded up to do this step.
Very slowly, start sanding down the areas you want the base colour to show through. Doing this gradually allows you to control how much or how little distressing you want. I found that sanding in different directions helped to create a more realistic distress than just sanding in an up-and-down or side-to-side motion.
You may notice that I wasn’t particular about taping off the glass. That’s because chalk paint is water-soluble. Once I was done, I just carefully wiped off the glass with a damp cloth and it came right off! Way easier than taping!
STEP 5 – SEALING
After all the painting & wiping down was done, I sealed the window frame with a coat of Creme Wax with a brush to protect the finish.
I am SUPER HAPPY with how it turned out – it’s going to be absolutely perfect at our wedding 🙂 But you’ll have to wait until then to see what I’m going to use it for 😉
