DIY nautical oar art
June 21, 2013
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I'm sharing how I made the oar art for the recent powder room makeover -- I used this boat oar I found at a vintage mart a few months ago:
This little redo seriously took about 20 minutes, and that was with paint drying!
I started out by wiping it down to prep it for paint:
I let it dry and then mixed some white paint (I used my CeCe Caldwell stuff, but regular white paint would do just fine. Flat may work better for this particular look.) with a little bit of water:
I didn’t want the oar to be covered completely – I wanted it to have a “wash” kind of look and this did it:
The nice thing is when it’s watered down a bit it takes even less time to dry. :)
I let it dry about ten minutes, and then used my delicate FrogTape to start marking where I wanted my stripes:
That one was on the handle -- I just searched striped boat oar images and kind of winged the design.
I taped off each section, painted and took the tape off immediately. I did that just because I knew even though the paint was dry to the touch it wasn’t cured and the tape may remove it. I take my tape off right away whenever I do stripes anyway so I get a really sharp line.
I moved on to the wider part and did a little stripe first:
When I pulled off that tape it did pull up a little bit of the paint, but I actually liked the look so I didn’t worry about it. I didn’t want it to look perfect anyway. ;)
Then I made a wider one in the middle:
You can see there that I cut the FrogTape down the middle for skinnier pieces. Since I was working so fast I didn’t want to put the tape down over the red paint I had just done – this allowed me to keep working quickly. :)
I did all the red stripes, hung the oar in the bathroom and then realized I wanted to pull in some of that blue tone in the room. I had it over at the vanity/sink, but everything around the toilet was red.
So I grabbed the blue paint I used on this post (it worked perfectly!) and added a few more skinny stripes:
I gotta be honest…I squealed a little when I saw how it all finished. ;) It was so stinkin’ cute!:
I think adding that little bit of blue was a good call – it ties the whole room together!
To hang it I just nailed a picture hanger thing to the back of the handle at the top.
In the real life you can see much more of the bottom of the oar because you see it from higher up than in the pics:
The room isn’t exactly nautical themed but I think it still works – you don’t need to follow a specific theme to make something you love work in a room!
I love that. I have an oar at home....HMMMMMMMmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteSo cool!!! I have an old wooden oar in our garage & we live near Lake Michigan, so this would be cute in our kitchen :) I may try this, I'll add it to my list. Here's my creative blog: www.lifeaswegoit.com
ReplyDeleteWOW!! This is so cool!! You're right, it totally brings the room together. Is that black tab the flush on your toilet?! That's crazy cut if so :)
ReplyDeleteJess
www.iamjessw.com
It turned out great!
ReplyDeleteLooks great! Maybe it would be even better hung at a 45, then you could really see the whole thing and it would break up the vertical and horizontal lines in the room? Just a thought. Looks great either way, and the blue was definitely a great call.
ReplyDeleteI'm squealing with you...that IS so cute!!! Great job...your powder room is perfection!
ReplyDeleteWow, that oar was just the perfect size! Beautiful work Sarah!
ReplyDeleteSo cute!! Did you think about hanging it horizontally above the paneling? Then you could hang art that fit a little better above the toilet and tie it in with the oar. I dunno, just a thought!
ReplyDeleteLove it!! Can I ask where you found your bathroom rug? Desperately need some print/pattern in my bathroom!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a real fun project: it came out fabulously! Have a great weekend, Rose, http://www.finecraftguild.com (I wonder if you want to link it up with us at our linky party).
ReplyDeleteYour oars look great! I love painting oars :)
ReplyDeleteI love that oar so much (and the bathroom of course! - it is all so awesome). I might have to start searching Craigslist for one...
ReplyDeleteOh how neat, I love the way the oar turned out! Thank you for the post. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://basicallybrandy.blogspot.com/
Excellent call on adding the blue stripe! I love this piece and the whole vibe of the room.
ReplyDeleteYour oar is awesome, love the colors and that you used it in your bathroom, why not? The oar looks fantastic in there. Great job gal. You'll be surprised where you'll decide to use that oar next.
ReplyDeleteWe have an Oar I used in our sunroom in our house in KY. I had a lodgy theme kinda going so used it over the french doors, loved how it looked. I just left it natural as it was, didn't snazzy it up. I've been thinking about that oar so better go looking for it. Your wonderful post inspired me.
First of all I LOVE this bathroom!!! So clean and fun! Second, I know this post is about the oar, but I NEED to know where you got that toilet flush handle!!?? I didn't even know you could change those!! So cute! Great job on this whole room. I'm in love! I would also love to know the source of that gorgeous rug! :)
ReplyDeleteSuper cute oar! I just bought one for our bedroom and I'm really excited to use it :)
ReplyDeleteLove it!!! Every room can use a touch of nautical flair in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteI love the preppy and nautical feel it gives the room!
ReplyDeleteTotally stinkin' cute!
ReplyDeleteWow! The PR looks so great! The oar is perfect, just what you needed! Love it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fab piece of decor! Although I might not have used the term "stinking" in this context :)
ReplyDeleteHelen == Firenze Cards
I want to travel to Indy just to use your bathroom. So crisp and beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLove Love..i have a nautical lvg room..always wanted to add oars!
ReplyDeleteI would squeal too; that oar is adorable! It goes so well with everything else in the room without being over the top. You rock :)
ReplyDeleteI have one that I cleaned, sanded and painted a "p" (family name) then wrapped a nice piece of rope around the handle spiraling downward loosely ending in a small spiral at the front under the "p".
ReplyDelete