Epic Fail of an Epic Project

First of all....who's over the word EPIC? This is me raising my hand.  It almost hurt me to write that title.  I felt I needed to use it one, er, two more times to tie into my last post title.  Anyway, I saw this impressive and wonderful piece of art at Pottery Barn online and wanted it real BAD!  Well, I wanted to recreate it, because honestly, I do not have $349 to spend on art.  If you do, lucky you, but my little brain cannot wrap my head around spending that much on something I can do for less.  Specifically, for $309 less.  If you take on this project, your expenses may be different than mine because I had all the materials except the "wood" at home already.  You could possibly make it for even less, if you do a smaller version. I made mine almost the same dimensions as the PB version (give or take some inches).  

 

**PREPARE FOR PICTURE OVERLOAD** 

 

 

 This is the "wood" I bought. It is actually paneling planks that lock together.  I think it was $30-$40 for a pack of six. I bought two and ended up returning one pack.

 

This is a handy dremel saw that I purchased for the hubs as a Christmas gift, but actually, Merry Christmas to me!!!  It worked perfect for the paneling.

 

 

Cutting the planks was fun and scary at the same time. I would be lying if I said my family trusted me to use a power tool by myself, but the hubs was too busy watching sports to really concern himself with my potential calamity. (I'm kidding, people)

 

 

Once I had the boards cut, I laid them out in a shape I liked. Believe me ya'll, there was no rhyme or reason to my cutting. I would measure out various lengths (18", 23", 30") and then just messed with them to fit them together.

 

 

I used more panels to secure them all together. Here's a really important tip: double check that your screws are not too long for your project.  After repairing that mess, I started staining.

 

 

Here is where I wish I would have went with a darker stain, but this is what I had on hand.

 

 

This is Special Walnut....oh, it's special alright...even after several hours and coats, It did not get as dark as I was hoping.

 

Nice and rustic looking, right?

 

The paints and colors I used to paint on the great U.S. of A!

 

 

I free-handed the US with chalk, which really worked well.  The chalk, I mean.  The free-handing would have worked better if I would have had enough patience to "erase" and try again.  Have I mentioned that I have a really hard time with patience?? Now you know!

 

 

The finished product! See what I mean about free-handing?  It's just a tad too fat bottomed, okay, not a tad....a lot.  *sigh*

 

I'm not going to lie to you, I did hang it. Two things happened: 1) I hated it. The shape (too fat), was too noticeable. I did try to live with it for a few days to see if it would grow on me. It did not.  2) As noted above, I have no patience, so I brought it in the house WAY too soon and finally figured out what was triggering my three day migraine.  The stain smell, duh. I'm smart like that. Ha!  It has been living in the garage and no longer smells, so I'm going to try to repair my EPIC FAIL (sorry, sorry!). 

 

Stay tuned for that! I know you'll be waiting on the edge of your seats!

 



 LIBBY ;)