1 In Make Something

I Heart Barn Board

With Valentine’s Day around the corner and my love of barn board, this project makes me happy. Plus, it’s always fun to switch up the decor a little from season to season.

When I started chatting with Rose of Phillips and Chestnut about the project for this month, she suggested I do something for Valentine’s Day. So we brainstormed a little and I picked up some barn board and got to work making a heart out of the old, textured wood.

I love the history and age of barn board. Our family barn had wood on it and it was so weathered and grayed from being exposed to the elements for over a century. And even though that barn is still standing, it’s neat to think that the boards I was using for this project had been around for so long, had seen the world change so much and get to continue on in a much different form.

Barn board is such a great way to add texture and character to a space, whether you are just doing a shelf or two, or covering an entire wall with it. I’ve suggested that to a few clients and I’m so happy they’ve gone through with it. It’s so nice that we can source an authentic product like the real deal from Phillips and Chestnut.

But anyway, we aren’t here to talk about accent walls! I want to show you what I made with the barn board in the studio! I knew I wanted the boards to run in different directions and I knew I wanted to showcase some of the fabulous textures, knots, nail holes and the such, that comes on the aged barn board. I sketched out a large heart on paper, this one is close to 2′ wide. Then I laid out the wood on my pattern and rough cut the length of board I needed for each piece of the puzzle. I backed my heart with a small sheet of MDF that I had kicking around the studio. I glued and nailed the boards to it. Once the glue was dry, I traced my heart pattern on the boards and cut it out.

Then came the fun part….painting it! I decided I wanted to dry brush paint on it so that the textures would really show through. I had some tester posts of Fusion paint that were the right colours, Casement and Fort York! I watered the paint down a little and dipped my brush in and got just a tiny bit on the bristles and then I started brushing that along the grain of the wood, blending the colours together so that there was variation in the pink tone I was creating. I keep layering and mixing the colours as I worked the paint onto the boards. I recalled the advice from an artist friend who told me to take it further than you think you need to. So when I thought I was done, I added more red, then more white, working the colours into the pretty shade of pink. Then, I stepped back and knew it was done and time to let it dry.

Since Valentine’s Day is nearby, I thought I would do up a little corner in the living room to celebrate. The barn board heart took center stage on the cabinet. Then I added a cute little house I picked up on sale after Christmas, crocheted hearts my friend made for me, a spool of velvet ribbon and a cluster of candles. Perfect.