Western General Store

Here's an idea for all you cowboys and cowgirls. Take an old barn wood frame and use a glue gun to glue tiny cast iron horseshoes and slotted conchos with leather ties. Or pin your ribbons to it. Frame your favorite horse, cowboy or cowgirl. Fun for kids too.

Use our Star Braces to make a Coat Hook/Shelf. Find the wood pieces you want to use. This happens to be cedar and I believe I put a wax finish on it. You can use any finish or paint it the color of your choice. Drill holes for Star Nails, hooks and 2 Star Braces. Find studs in your wall and use screws to mount it. And here you have a handy Coat Hook/Shelf for the Mud Room, Entry, or Bedroom. From the store you can buy these items: Star Nails Star Brace Coat Hooks

A window can be mounted on an interior wall to add ambience. My husband and I mounted this leaded glass window between our bedroom and bath. I designed it and my father-in-law made it. You could find someone to make a custom window or you could find vintage leaded glass windows at antique shops.

This bedroom had an old style texture and antique white paint for 20 years! Time for an update. I wanted a southwest, western, rustic stucco look. The old texture was scraped off and new texture applied with joint compound and a stomp brush creating a technique called heavy Monterey Drag. This was allowed to dry then Sherwin Williams Divine White Satin was applied for the base coat. When the base coat dried Sherwin Williams Glaze and Thatch Brown Satin was mixed 4 parts glaze to 1 part brown. This mixture was applied and rubbed off with a rag or sponge to the desired lightness. You rub it almost immediately after applying, using a circular motion. Work in small sections or the glaze will dry. This is a close up shot of the texture.

I cut out another star from the post last week and painted it grey. I painted a little black randomly, let dry and then added Mod Podge. I used the hair dryer to get it tacky to the touch, then painted it white. Using the hair dryer the crackling started to form. You could paint it any color. You could use this as a décor piece or hang it on the wall. Or make different sizes, paint on both sides and hang from the ceiling in a child's bedroom or for parties.

I love stars! There are so many ways to use them in home décor. So you will probably see a lot of them around here. I used the star from a previous post to make a tray. Place the star on 1/4" plywood, trace around it and cut it out on the band saw. You could use a jig saw also. Paint the star with Mod Podge and place a flag bandana or any fabric on it. I got this bandana at Joann's. Smooth it out a bit with your fingers then use a wood brayer working from the center. Trim off the excess material and attach to back of the star with a brad gun, nails, screws or glue. There you have it! A star tray or hang it on the wall. You could paint the wood star red, white and blue and use it on the 4th of July!

I used the drawer panel from a previous post to make a rustic coat hook. Epoxy was used to attach the crosses and three small coat hooks were screwed to the bottom of the panel. The crosses have loops at the top for hanging. These can be removed with a hack saw or pliers and filed down. This is one of many ideas in which you can use some of our products: Crosses Small Coat Hooks Cross Tack Nails