Attic Treasures

When we first purchased our home 4 years ago, we were amazed at some of the antique treasures we discovered in the attic...some were too destroyed due to a leaking roof or rodent consumption to even keep.... but those that were salvageable I excitedly collected, for future use.  

Here is the first item I repurposed... I decided that I would start with something simple J

It’s a solid iron grate... originally used for ~ well frankly I have no idea J

But none the less the shape and size attracted me. 

There is two cracks on the top of the iron, but because it’s iron, they do not separate even with force...so I decided that I wouldn't bother repairing them, if anything they would leave character J

The first thing I needed to do was remove all the rust, and built up stuff off of the front and sides of the grate (the back I just removed the rust, I wasn't as concerned about the roughness)  I did this by vigorous hand sanding, and washing.

Once I got it smoother, I spray painted it with left over spray paint from a previous project.  It only took 2 coats (front and back)

Till this point I still wasn’t 100% sure what I wanted to do with the final product, and after it all dried, I looked at it and thought “Wow that would look grate (hehe get the pun) on my bedroom wall.”  So I turned it over and glued some strips of foam to back of it, because I didn’t want it to scratch up my freshly painted walls.

 And then I hung it from 2 nails.  And here it hangs, as a cheery piece on my wall!

~From ugly to stunning, with some sparkling paint~

 ~ melodiejoy ~