Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night, tossing and turning....just waiting for the opportunity to do a project that has been rolling around in your head? Well.....today I did one of those projects!  While at the NY gift show this spring we bought some great rusty French wire candle sconces and I have been wondering how they would look their best....they needed  a special touch to make them sparkle....

The day was long and hot, we are once again getting ready for the Brimfield Antique Show. We finished filling our booth, I was tired but still had some creative juices flowing.  What to do???  I know!...I wanted to figure out what to do with the pretty wall sconces!  It was around 4:00 PM and a beautiful dry breeze was calling me under the trees to set up for my project....I decided to go into the bottom of the barn to see what I could find....to unearth some treasures my Dad kept hidden for the time when he wanted to get creative.  It was bittersweet for me, our Dad has been gone for 9 years now, but the memory of him is still alive...it is as if I saw him yesterday. I can almost  hear him say "Lindy, what are you up to?"  My sister and I have not touched any of his garden tools, in fact, his garden hat, gloves and overalls still hang where they were last put by him...somehow this gave me comfort as I forged on to see what goodies I could come up with.

I went into the bullpen, a place he kept all his wood for future projects he had in mind...I found some wonderful wood door panels, most of them had to be at least 100 years old!  My Dad was the original recycler , if it was interesting and had a purpose he saved it! He had carefully taken old doors apart that he found at the landfill and saved the panels.  My dad dabbled in art and painting, I am guessing he was going to paint birds on them possibly...I will never know.  Into the van they went, they needed LOTS of cleaning before I could get started!

 I decided to use chalk paint, it would give me the effect I was looking for.  I wanted to keep some of the original, old crackled paint intact, but needed to paint the edges so they would look pretty!

 Distressed and waxed, they came out pretty! I did three different colors, one Provence, one  Versailles with the original painted center and one grey and linen distressed.   I then added the sconces to the waxed door panels. (Notice the paint on my hands....no manicure here!)

Voila!  Finished for today....what colors will be next?

 Versailles with the natural old paint center, I love the original crackle!

This larger panel is for a project tomorrow, it came out awesome with French grey underneath with a white wash on top.  Hmmmm...what will I find to put on this beauty?

I smile now when I think that Dad would approve...he would certainly appreciate the fact that I found a use for the panels that he had carefully stored away for a special day....today was that day!