Rustic Woodwork Decor – How To Make Your Own

Bring a little texture and nature to you decorating style and learn how to make your own Rustic Woodwork Decor. A welcoming and cozy way to decorate and DIY.

 

How To Make Your Rustic Woodwork Decor

Bring natural textures to your decor style

 

Home decor is already a huge feature of our homes. Both regarding expense and the amount of time spent thinking about how o decorate the space. You design and redesign the layout in your head a dozen times over. Couple that with the countless hours spent wandering through stores to find the perfect item pictured in your mind and it truly is a process to create your perfect home.

However, what if there was a means to add further customization to your home and lower your budget? And get the further benefit of learning a new skill? Well, such a path does exist. Luckily, woodwork is an easy way to transfer your style, needs, and wants into a creation that perfectly fits your home.

A little bit of rustic decor

For those who have missed out on the design trends, rustic decor can be described as a decorating style with an emphasis on nature and other natural elements. These elements are all inspired by textures that can be found outdoors in nature. Think beach wood benches and luxurious faux-fur throws. The style further relies on natural colors that are typically earthy in tone.

If you are worried about how to achieve such a look in the middle of suburbia, one of the easiest ways is to incorporate ‘raw’ elements. These can be unfinished pieces of wood, a river-washed pebble mat, coral you collected on your last trip to the beach. The more unfinished and closer to its natural state the better the finished product will look.

DIY ideas

An emphasis on natural elements is required to achieve the rustic decor look. Wood especially is a great place to start. As always, when embarking on any project involving dangerous tools or supplies, it is important to be completely aware of the directions. Get the job done and practice good safety habits, such as wearing protective gear.

A good place to start with your interior is to fashion a rustic headboard out of pallets and other wood. The great thing is you can choose to use recycled pieces such as old wood from barns or leftover pieces from previous projects to add to the rustic charm of the piece.

A further idea is pallet shelves, or possibly a pallet bench and to ensure your best friend (your dog) doesn’t feel left out. Maybe even check out how to make a dog bed with old pallets. Everything is possible when it comes to DIY. For the pallet shelves, once you have finished pulling all the nails out and then cutting off the end pieces – these are shelf one and two, along with the center pieces for shelf three.

 

You then have the option to go even further. You can proceed to stain the shelves, to achieve a more rustic look. A darker color is advised for a more authentic image, while for a look more suited to a coastal interior theme, you could use a lighter, sandy color to stain the wood. Finally, screw them into the wall, and then they are ready to go.

More Rustic Woodwork Decor

Should you be seeking more inspiration for where exactly to start with your rustic decor mission, perhaps a wooden pallet wine rack is the avenue to which you should check out. You will similarly make the wooden pallet shelf as to the way you make shelf 1 and 2 (or the end pallet shelves) in the example above. Then, you only drill holes into the shelf so that the wine glasses have a space to hang.

If you only want to beautify an already wooden piece of your home, such as a backyard fence, then feel free to go to town with fresh flowers stacked in a tin-can garden, or if you are really into entertaining, why not consider putting a back-yard barbeque station attached to your garden fence?

 

With so many ways to achieve a rustic decor look and DIY woodworking activities being one of the easier, more affordable ways to do it, the only question left to ask is which project are you going to undertake first? I know, the wooden pallet wine rack is extremely tempting.

Have you done any Rustic Woodwork Decor projects? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

I want to thank Sarah for sharing these rustic woodwork decor DIY projects with us today. I cannot wait to give some of these ideas a try!

Be sure to check out Sarah’s blog, The DIY Hammer.

 

 

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Farmhouse Style Wood & Metal Vase Decor

Your are going to love the transformation our regular contributor, Michelle James, has made with this thrift store find to create an amazing Autumn vase!

 

Farmhouse Style – A Wood & Metal Vase

Hi there!  I am calling this a wood and metal vase because I used it for a fall floral arrangement, but it really could be an organizer, a container or just a box to set somewhere.  Whatever its purpose…I love the way it turned out.

I love thrift shopping with my friend, Peggy.  She picked this up and could see beyond the ugly.  She said look at the wood and the corrugated metal.  I was hooked and bought it for $1.50.

It started out with this pear and this weird springy wire handle.

I removed the pear which was held on with two screws and some glue.  And I got that handle off too.  It was so much better already.

I painted the wood sides, or fronts, it could go either way, with white chalk paint.  I painted two coats sanding in between.

I knew I wanted something painted on the wood sides, so I created a stencil from vinyl with my Silhouette machine.

I used a font called “stencil” and cut the words Farm Fresh to fit the size I needed.   Since it was vinyl, I just laid it down on the wood side.

It took two coats of the black chalk paint to fill it in.

Then I removed the stencil, sanded quite a bit to get an “aged” look, and added the wax finish.

I love the way it turned out.

The craft store in my area had their fall décor 40% off, so I got a few things to add to it.  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

~Michelle

 

 

Visit Michelle at her blog, Michelle James Designs!

 


 

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Pumpkin Carving Tools of the Trade

The Proper Tools

Make All the Difference

It is an old saying that the proper tools make a job easier, and it is no different in Pumpkin Carving. The tools do not need to be expensive, just the correct tools for your use. My pumpkin carving tools of the trade encompass a variety of different types of tools for carving My Pumpkins.

  • A collection of Pumpkin Masters Carving Tools (not motorized)
  • Wood Carving Tools
  • Drill Bits (various sizes)

Pumpkin Masters Carving Tools

   

SAWS

There are several different sizes of saws both in length of saw blade and in the size of the teeth. For straighter longer cuts, use a saw with a longer blade and larger teeth. For more intricate or curvy areas, use a smaller blade length and smaller teeth.

The key to using the saws is making quick sawing motions. Do not try to use the saws like a knife and cut through the pumpkin. It takes very little pressure, but a lot of back-and-forth sawing motion. I have used these same saws for years.

You can see in my picture above, that I trimmed the top of the saw blade to an angled point. This helps a great deal. Purchase a separate set for children to use and keep the blunt end for safety.

SCRAPERS

I use the scrapers to add texture to the pumpkin. I have two large scrapers–one with a straight edge and one with a jagged edge. I use the straight edged one to smooth out the inside of the pumpkin.

The poker type scraper is great for deepening creases in a design.

Use the others to scratch at the pumpkin skin. This technique is great for adding an aged or weathered look, grass, or maybe a pattern to a scarecrow’s shirt.

**NOTE: These Pumpkin Masters Carving Tools are readily available at Target, Walmart, grocery stores, and drugstores.

Wood Carving Tools

I have a 5-piece gouge set that includes a flat angle-edge, an almost flat round-edge, a U-shape, a tiny V-shape, and a larger V-shape. These are fantastic for carving and sculpting! I would say that probably 95% of my actual design work is done with this set.

You can also use Linoleum tools and/or Exact-o knife.

Find the Five Piece Power Grip Carving Set at Rockler Woodworking and Hardware

Drill Bits

Drill Bits are great for punching perfectly round holes into your pumpkin. You do not need to attach it to a drill, just twist it through the pumpkin with your fingers. It is very easy to do. These little multi-packs from the 99-Cents Only Stores and other places, make it easy to have holes of varying sizes.

Now you have the Pumpkin Carving Tools of the Trade.  Upcoming posts will include tips and tricks on designs and patterns, carving, preparation, preservation, and more. Be sure to check back!

What tools do you use for carving pumpkins?

Do you have any tool tips or tricks?

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On Another Note~

Around the World with I Am Meg
The Travel Series is coming to a close. Please go check out the final Guest Blogger post.
Last Post in the Series: Kate: Amsterdam, Holland
For a list of all posts, Check the Schedule: HERE


 

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