Before Meets After: Candle Holder

The Goodwill is a treasure trove of great craft finds -- the trick is to be able to look at an item and envision the possibilities. If you are anything like me, that vision sometimes takes a while to show up {sometimes it's a really long while...lol}but I'm learning that even though I may not know exactly what an item will turn into, I can definitely notice potential in it. Back in August I found these great little wooden boxes with a tray {that I'm sure in a previous life lived in the nursery of some sweet little angel} and as soon as I saw them I knew they would be mine and with a price tag of only $2.99 it was an easy decision to make the purchase.

Lately, I've been looking around our house and noticing that though we've been here three years now we still have lots to do to make this place feel as "home-y" as I would like. As we all know, life happens and sometimes the most basic things get placed on the back burner. Well, it's time to light the fire and I decided I would start with something small - a candle holder for our kitchen island{I have bigger plans for our master bedroom}.

Here is where the 'before' meets 'after'.....



And here is how it came to be the lovely piece that now adorns my kitchen island...

The first thing to do was to remove the little bear, bunny and sheep from the front of each box. This proved to be harder than I thought but with a little elbow grease I was able to get them and the mound of glue that was holding them off

I sanded each one with an 80-grit piece of sand paper to remove some of the paint and give it a more even finish but as you can see, each one of the boxes was left with a little 'scar' after the removal of the wooden animals {what to do about that...hmmm?}

A trip to Hobby Lobby {are you as in love with this store as I am?} and I found these great rustic/antique-ish looking spigot knobs that I immediately fell head over heels for...talk about love at first sight! My vision was becoming clearer.

Back home and it's time to spray paint the pieces. I used a gloss spray paint - almond color

To match the color that runs through my family room, kitchen and even my deck, I chose a wine acrylic paint to use as an accent color on the boxes. Using some painters tape, I taped off the small area at the top of each box that would be painted, then measured and drilled a hole in each box

Originally I wasn't sure what to do about the little 'scars' on each box. I thought about sanding and filling in the area but I didn't want this project to take too long {remember I have a bedroom begging for my attention...lol} so it made more sense to cover it - and I did. Using some wooden circles, I painted a simple design on each and drilled a hole

Adding some clear polycrylic to the wine colored band on each box and covering the designed circles as well, I have a finished project {and in record time I might add...haha}.

I'm happy with it and I think it looks beautiful in our kitchen! But alas, there is no rest for the weary for there are Valentine's to make for the both the little prince's preschool class and a customer, a gift to make for my sister's birthday {I'm so late...again!} and a party to get ready for to celebrate my one year blogiversary! Stick around, there is more great stuff to come including a GIVEAWAY for my anniversary.