Trash to Treasure…Tutorial

When I started thinking about what I could do for this post, I walked around the house a couple of times to gather up some goodies, and all I seemed to find was some house paint and an old, wooden toothbrush holder. I really didn’t like the way the container looked, so I thought I would give it a little makeover. 

I decided to turn it in to a modern vase, since I really didn’t need a fancy toothbrush holder (seriously what was I thinking when I bought that thing). You can make one yourself too, with just a few supplies: wooden container, house paint, sandpaper, paint brush, and small glass. So how do you make it?

Step 1: Give the wooden container a good rub down with some sandpaper and then wipe clean. Once that is finished, you are ready to start painting. I painted the entire piece (inside and out) white.

Step 2: Once the first coat is dry, apply one more coat to the entire surface. If your paint job is looking a little clumpy, hit it with a little more sandpaper and then move on to another coat of paint.

Step 3: Once that is finished, you are now ready to select a contrasting color for the detail areas. If your wooden container doesn’t have any engraved details, you can paint a leaf or flower motif on it to achieve the same look. I would do a couple coats of this. 

Step 4: We’re almost done,but since we are creating a vase and wood is porous, it doesn’t exactly make a great vase  by itself. So, it is now time to find a small glass that you can stick inside the opening. I happen to have avintage juice glass that fits perfectly! Slip it in the opening, fill with water, and you are ready for some flowers.

That’s it for this DIY. I have some more in the wings for next week that I am looking forward to getting posted. Until then, you can check out past tutorials from papernstitch right here.