Western General Store

I saw this coat rack in a local antique store and noticed many of the items are in our store so I thought I'd try to make one like it. I gathered pieces of weathered pallet wood, cut and placed them like I wanted them. Pictured are the approximate dimensions of the boards. They are 1/2" thick. The trim was cut on a table saw and they are 1/2" x 1". The finished project was 22 1/4" wide x 20 1/4" tall. My version appears to be a smaller scaled down version of the original. The boards were put together with biscuits and glue then clamped. The center support is 1 1/8" wide.  The trim was glued and nailed with a brad gun. The little corner pieces  are 1/4" thick and were glued and nailed with a brad gun. I bought 2 10" x 10" mirrors from the craft store and installed them with mirror clips. I sprayed all of the iron pieces with vinegar and placed them in the sun to rust. The iron pieces were then sprayed with a cl...

I decided to use one of the pallet wood pieces, turn it on its side and drill three holes to make a triple candle holder. Holes were drilled for Small Star Nails and for mounting the cast iron Longhorn . The wood was left bare and rustic. I inserted battery operated candles, but glass votive candles could be used. The cast iron could be painted or rusted.

I thought it would be fun to fancy up a cast iron longhorn . I spray painted it gold and glued bling from the craft store on the horns. A purple star was added to the forehead.  I tied shiny gold ribbon through the mounting holes to hang. This could be a fun project for kids.

This project took quite a while from planning to finish. I placed the cast iron items and rope from the craft store on a board in different ways until I was satisfied. I took several pictures and played with the colors for the wood in Photoshop. I knew I wanted to crackle the paint so I did it in sections, then glued the rope on and frayed the ends. I tied and glued on leather cord to keep it from unraveling. I spray painted the cast iron metallic silver and drilled holes to mount them. The longhorns could hold jewelry, caps, hats, belts, or coats. Items for the project from Western General Store Longhorn Skull Drawer Pulls Large Horseshoes Star Nails

There's a herd of Texas Longhorns down the road from us and I've taken several photos. I took one of the photos and placed on graphite paper on bass wood to trace the outline of the head. With a wood burning tool from the craft store ($25.00) I burned in the image and finished all the shading. I framed it in maple wood for a tray. I used the Steer Drawer pulls for the handles which I spray painted textured brown and sealed the wood with a salad bowl finish. Items from westerngeneralstore.com for this project: Steer Drawer Pulls