Many curb-side “treasures” have made their way into our garage over the past 20 years. I just can’t seem to help myself. When I see items that I know I can use, someone else can use or that I feel I can recycle into something useful for our home, I “snag” them. While most of my finds have been put to good use, some have been tossed back to the curb when I have not done anything with them after a certain period of time. I had a little regret after pitching some nicely weathered blue louvered shutters recently. I vowed that next time shutters came my way, I would make sure I held onto them. Not long after getting rid of my blue shutters, I scored with four brown paneled ones. With a nice flat surface, I knew they would be great for painting.
With the idea of painting a flag, I choose two shutters for my project.
Before getting started, I gave the shutters a good cleaning.
I used some recycled hardware to connect my two shutters together.
The fun begins:
I first began by drawing off lines for the stripes. I have started too many projects where I thought I could just “eye-ball” it and came up with some lines that were much wider than others. I didn’t want to chance it, knowing that I needed to have exactly thirteen stripes.
13 stripes for our 13 original colonies.
The red represents valor and bloodshed while white represents courage and purity.
The block of blue symbolizes our freedom.
Praise be to God for all the men and women who have fought, and continue to fight, for
what we often times take for granted in our country!
With only the stars to go, I decided to sand the surface a bit to give my flag an aged patina. I thought that using my Makita electric sander would be a good idea. I would just hit it quickly and lightly and be done.
-BUT-
The bits of old paint that gave my shutters the character that I so admired, proved to be too much for my sand paper.
I traded the electric sander for my sanding sponge. If you have never used one of these, you are missing out on a very valuable tool. I discovered these little jewels when I first began refinishing furniture.
They are pliable so they will conform to whatever contour you are sanding (perfect for tables and chairs that have spindled legs).
I sanded the entire surface.
With a damp rag, I removed the sanding residue.
I had to go over it several times, rinsing my rag out in between.
Next I added 50 stars in recognition of our 50 beautiful states.
I sprayed a light coat of clear matte acrylic to seal the surface.
I hung my flag on the patio last night.
Just in time for the Fourth of July!
The brave men and women who fight for our freedom know that “the more they give, the more they are"
-Frederick Buechner
