I was given this wooden stand, and I’m not too sure what it is. My guess is a plant stand, but I could be wrong. It was so solid and heavy that I wanted to try and make something useful out of it. Candlesticks were the only thing I could come up with. They would not be the same size and shape, but I think that would be half the charm. And who does not love candlesticks in their home?
How to repurpose a plant stand into candlesticks
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Cut the stand
The safest way I found to cut the plant stand was using a handsaw. Because the shape is so uneven there is a good chance of injury using a table saw or jigsaw. It does not take to long with the hand saw but makes your arm ache in the end.
If you are anything like me, you would end up with an uneven cut. You can use an orbital sander to level the end or a benchtop sander if you have one. This project was more about trying out a new paint technique I had seen, so I chose not to sand the surface.
Painting the candlesticks
The idea was to use supplies that I already had at home to keep my costs down. I used black chalk paint because that is what I had at home. They looked so boring so I went onto Pinterest for some inspiration and saw a piece of furniture with this effect and I was hooked. This method of painting on Pinterest is called dry brushing. I recently discovered how to turn your chalk paint metallic if you are looking for new ideas. I left the paint to dry before adding the white chalk paint but the new coat was lifting the old coat. To prevent this from happening I applied a coat of clear water-based polyurethane to the black chalk paint before the white was added again.
Next, the legs were painted with a second coat of white chalk paint covering 2/3 of the wood. To do the dry brushing effect, remove all the excess paint from your brush by brushing over some paper towel. Next, start at the bottom and move your brush upwards pressing very gently to get the effect of the paint running out.
Seal the candlesticks
To keep the white chalk paint on the candlesticks clean you can seal the paint with 2 coats of waterbased clear polyurethane. This will make it easier for you to clean them without the paint peeling off over time.
Making the candlestick tops
To make the top you can use any scrap wood you have lying around at home. Draw your circles onto the wood and cut them out using a jigsaw. A small trick if you can’t cut straight and have a benchtop sander. Leave a border of a few millimetres on the outside of the circle and use the benchtop sander to sand away the excess.
You can stop here and just paint the discs black or you can use a wood router and remove the edges for a softer look. You can glue the painted discs to the top of the candlesticks.
More DIY Projects
Another painting technique is to turn plastic into granite
How to make chalk paint look metallic
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