Rustic Red, White, & Blue Chalk Painted Book Crate {& 110 Red, White, and Blue Ideas!}
Here is a simple crate that I painted with chalk paint to create a red, white and blue rustic aesthetic!
Today I have joined a group of 109 other bloggers for the Ultimate Red, White, and Blue project hop! Even though I am not American I still love a good red, white, and blue project – and the colours of our boys’ bedroom are red, white, and blue (with a little yellow thrown in for good measure!). So I decided to add some life to a plain ol’wooden crate with a little red, white, & blue chalk paint and then gave it an aged finished with some dark (antiquing wax). It is the perfect spot to store overflow big books (of which we seem to have so many….).
I started with this basic wooden crate from Walmart (cost under $9)…
First I painted it all over with Country Chic Chalk based paint in Devotion. It is the same colour that I used for the Icelandic flag on their Flag Dresser.
Once that was dry I dry brushed over it with Midnight Sky which is a beautiful blue grey shade (also the same blue color that I used in their Flag dresser and on the Numbered Distressed Nautical dresser that I recently shared.
To “dry brush” just remove most of the paint from your brush, first on the can and then by brushing it off on a scrap piece of paper or cloth. Then paint the piece like normal…. you will find you get a nice distressed looking finish and it hardly uses any paint. The benefit to doing this with the Country Chic paint is that when you get a little too heavy in places it is super easy to distress it and remove some paint with a damp rag.
Once it was all dry I decided to give it more of a rustic aged finish by using some antiquing wax. This is almost like wax that has stain right in it, and it definitely adds years to your piece. If you go to heavy with the wax, you can always add a little clear wax back on and then buff it all off – it will take off the excess antiquing wax with it.
Here you can see the difference that adding/using the dark or antiquing wax makes.
Lastly, I buffed all my wax off with a dry lint free cloth until the crate was smooth and dry feeling to the touch. Done!!
Does that look like an old rugged crate, or what? I love the character it adds to my boys’ book storage area in their bedroom.
Like it? Want to try this technique?
Pin it to remember it!
Now, are you ready for some more Red, White, and Blue inspiration?!? I know I am ….
Thanks for reading. And remember my housie friends, HOME isn’t built in a day. Enjoy the journey!
I may link up at some of these fabulous places below, for more info check out housie parties:
Monday Funday , Give Me the Goods Monday , Inspiration Monday, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Tip Junkie, Project Inspire{d} , Inspire Me Tuesday, The Scoop, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Wow Me Wednesday, Whimsy Wednesday , From Dream to Reality, The Inspiration Exchange, Wow Us Wednesday, Live Laugh Rowe Live Laugh Linky, Thursdays Are Your Days, Inspire Me Please, Catch as Catch Can, Fabulously Creative Friday, Party Junk, Pinworthy Projects , Link Party Palooza,, Weekend Bloggy Reading, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Spotlight Saturday, Get Schooled Saturday, Overflowing With Creativity , , Suburbs Mama , That DIY Party
Disclosure: I am a member of the 2014 Country Chic Paint Blogger Squad and receive paint in exchange for sharing my tutorials and projects. All opinions are 100% my own.
Love the distressed look it adds so much more character and personality 🙂
This is so neat, Krista! I love the cool things you can do with a simple crate!
Yep that is soooooo cute!!!
i am hoping my wal mart had these crates so i can steal your idea i love this xx
Yes, it sure looks like a rugged crate, with lots of character! 🙂 perfect place to store books! If you’d like, I’d love for you to share any of your awesome DIY at our new link party… on my blog 🙂 Have a great day, Krista!