Teach Me Tuesday: Creating With Five of My Favorite Things

My miter saw’s been seeing a lot of action in the garage lately. While I wouldn’t have had to use a miter saw for my latest project, it’s just way to tempting to resist. So sorry table saw, chop saw, and jig saw. You all are a feisty bunch.. but your shinier sibling won out on this one.

I’ve been wanting some medium-scale, natural, beachy-chic artwork for my bathroom lately. I don’t really know how these things happen.. but an idea popped into my head.

I wanted my backdrop to look a bit like worn wood paneling, so I started out with two pieces of rough-cut 1 1/2″ wood. I then cut it into as many sections as I could get out of the two pieces. Each piece either 14 inches, a little less, or a little more. This way, none of the pieces were exactly the same.

Once I’d laid them all out the way I wanted them, I glued them all together.

See how they’re all jagged and raw? Loove it.

Then, to secure everything and give me a place to mount hanging hardware on the back, I glued down two strips of 3/4″ screen molding.

The whole shebang got a couple coats of white spray paint. I used Rustoleum’s Blossom White. Once dry, I took one of Z’s wire brushes to it. I had to stop myself from getting carried away.. distressing is so fun..

Then I sketched the word “Relax” on in pencil. Can you see it??

To embellish, I used some 4-ply jute, hot glue, and faux starfish (which I grabbed at the Christmas Tree Shop – 6 for $1.99).

I glued the jute over my sketch in small sections, and trimmed off the ends, leaving a half inch to fly free.

After slapping a couple star fish on the corners, all that was left was getting it hung. I used two small sawtooth hooks, mounted onto the screen molding.

By the way, have you all seen these things yet?!?

I tell ya, they’re sheetrock’s best friend. No more using giant anchors and leaving nasty holes in your wall! The hole’s the size of an itty bitty nail, and holds the weight that a screw & anchor would. Anyway.. here’s the finished product:

Total cost? Roughly four bucks. And I’m totally okay with that.