I wanted something made out of wood for the shelf on my new kitchen island so I found a box I liked on Houzz in their ideabooks — simple plan and materials.
Assembled box and testing rope — I love how the rope looks!
I wanted the wood to end up looking like barn siding and wasn’t quite sure how to get there. I wanted to see what burning would do, so I tried that first.
Burned with propane torch
Next, I beat the crap out of it with a hammer and assorted metal pieces like bolts, screw, etc. Seems a little weird to lovingly and carefully build something and then burn and beat it up.
I thinned white primer with water and white-washed the box so the white would be in the distressing I had added.
When it dried it not only was lighter than I wanted, but it had a pinkish tint to it that had to go. I ended up getting some very dark stain called Kona by Rustoleum since I figured the white wash would make stain slow to penetrate. I finally got a look I was happy with so I added the rope to see how it would look.
I got some vintage labels I found on the internet and glued them to the ends. I used a paste wax to finish the entire box. Here’s the final pics of the toolbox. Burning the wood made the sap boil out of the knots and they didn’t take stain — I like the golden brown the sap added to the textures.
