Make-It Mondays--DIY "Vintage" Farmhouse Breadbox

So, I missed Friday as an update post, with good reason. Tim called me with a bunch of hardwood flooring that he got for free, and I'm not passing that opportunity up! So, my weekend was spent installing that in the living room. The floors look amazing, it fits in so well with what we've been doing in here! We'll eventually use what we have left for the kitchen, but right now I think we both have earned a well-deserved break from home renovations for a bit.

In the midst of the wall project from a couple of weeks ago (which I totally need to get up as a post), I decided that our old bread box just did not fit in with the rustic look I was going for. I picked it up probably 8 or 9 years ago at Goodwill, cleaned it, and used it as was since then. It was super dated though and the design was starting to fade.

It even has ducks on it...

I had some leftover spray paint from another project, and I found the Hand Shop font online here. I also used some carbon paper, 120 and 220 grit sandpaper, and acrylic craft paint in gunmetal and black.

I started out by taking off the door and the knob, which was only three screws. I was quite surprised that it didn't have actual hinges. I decided to keep the original ceramic knob because I like the vintage look of it. Next I hit the whole thing with the 220 sandpaper just to take any shine off. I wiped it all down with a damp paper towel, and it was time to spray. 

Now truthfully, I am not the best spray-painter in the world, far from it, but I found Valspar super easy to use, and it's what I had leftover on hand. The color was Buff (I think) but honestly any glossy off-white spray paint would work here. I don't know how well other finishes will work, but the gloss acted exactly like I needed it to. It's important to note that I only painted the door. You could absolutely paint the whole box and it would look great, but I liked the 2 different colors with my kitchen décor. 

This is 2 coats of the Valspar

I sprayed the first coat and it looked decent, but a slight hint of the original design was still showing through, so I let it dry for about an hour, then put another coat on. I let the second coat dry until it was semi-tacky. I could pick it up and move it fine, but it was still sticky if I put pressure on it. 

Next up I laid the stencil I traced over the carbon paper and transferred the letters. This wasn't pretty, but honestly it doesn't have to be. We're going to distress it later. 

Next up, take a small paintbrush and paint the letters in your desired color. I used 2 layers of gunmetal, drying between coats, then a quick hit of flat black over that, but go with what you like! After it was mostly dried, I noticed that there was still some carbon smudge, but it would not come off because I had transferred while the spray paint was still tacky.

I took the 120 sandpaper and I varied speed, direction and pressure on and around the letters to 1) smear/blend the carbon smudge, 2) smear/blend the very small areas of black paint that were still wet and 3) give the letters a nicely distressed look. I also hit the edges of the door with it to scrape off a bit of the white and keep it from being so clean looking.

Once I got it to the perfect level of distressed, I gently went over it with the 220 to smooth everything out. After that it was just a matter of bolting the door back on and putting her back to use.

Not bad for a $4 breadbox, huh?

Happy Crafting!