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    Home » Decorate

    Painting Wooden Candlesticks: Turning a Thrift Store Buy Into Whimsical Decor

    March 30, 2017 by Patti Estep 8 Comments

    Learn a few tricks about painting wooden candlesticks that you can find at a thrift store and turn them into beautiful and whimsical home decor.

    Painting wooden candlesticks adds whimsical look to your decor

    We always go thrift, and antique shopping on our girls weekend, and this year one of my purchases was an old wooden spool. I thought it would be perfect to set a pillar candle on. Soon after, I found a pair of wooden candle sticks.They were only $3.99 for the pair, and I thought they would go great with the spool. So I set out to create a whimsical trio by painting wooden candlesticks in a variety of bright colors.

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    Painting Wooden Candlesticks

    I was inspired by all the colorful Easter eggs I'm seeing all over the internet. The Easter eggs also made me think of Mary Engelbreit designs from the 90's. 

    Thrift store finds to be transformed into a set of whimsical candlesticks.

    Here are the original wooden candlesticks and the spool that I purchased. They were pretty cute on their own, but not as bright as I wanted, and I also wanted them to coordinate well together.

    Sanding to prep wood for paint.

    To start this project, simply give the wood a light sanding.

    Base coated with white paint.

    Then give them a base coat of white paint. I used some chalk paint that I had on hand, but any kind would work. This is only one coat and I ended up painting them with a second coat for good coverage. The white paint will help with coverage especially with lighter colors. And, you can leave some parts white as part of the design.

    Using painters tape for masking areas of candlestick.

    Since the spool was nice and straight I attempted to use some painters tape to section off different areas.

    After painters tape.

    However, as you can see some of it bled through the tape.  😐 

    Using a flat paint brush helps create lines.

    This flat brush was a nice tool for painting bands of paint and dash marks.

    Using a pencil eraser for creating dots.

    Use the top of a pencil eraser to make circles or dots. I found that it works best if you take the time to dip the eraser in the paint for each dot, instead of trying to get two or more dots per dip.

    Ends of paint brushes to create varying sizes of dots.

    The same holds for these paint brush handles. You can use different sizes and dip them into paint to create dots on the candlesticks.

    Painting wooden candlesticks adds whimsical look to your decor

    The last tip I have is using sharpies for definition. I used a black sharpie pen to add a little definition between colors.

    Painting wooden candlesticks is a wonderful, creative activity.

    This would be a great project to make with a group of friends or kids.

    If you don't have any laying around and don't thrift shop you can buy affordable unfinished candlesticks online like these candlesticks from amazon.

    You can also protect the candlesticks with spray polyurethane to protect the finish, however, I did not. I think if I was giving them as a gift I would finish them with a protective coating, but since they are just for our house I'm going to leave them just the way they are.

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    About Patti Estep

    Patti is the creator of Hearth and Vine, a home and garden blog filled with projects to inspire your creative side. She loves crafting, gardening, decorating and entertaining at her home in Pennsylvania. When she is not working on a project at home or searching for treasures at nurseries and thrift stores with her girlfriends, you’ll probably find her with family and friends, at a restaurant, or home party enjoying new and different food adventures.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sandi C

      March 30, 2017 at 4:22 pm

      I have seen candlesticks similar to these in high-end catalogs and have always wanted to try painting some myself. Thanks for the tutorial. Now off to find some candlesticks!
      P.S. I loved Mary Engelbreit too!

      Reply
      • Patti Estep

        March 30, 2017 at 6:25 pm

        Hi Sandi,

        Another Mary Engelbreit lover! I think there are a lot of us out there. 🙂
        You can totally do this project. If you mess up, just paint over it.
        Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
        Patti

        Reply
    2. Karen

      March 30, 2017 at 9:56 am

      These are simply adorable, Patti, and yes, they bring back memories of Mary Engelbreit for me too. I remember a gorgeous package of her notecards I once bought. They were so much fun!
      I love your candlesticks and it seems like such a fun project!

      Reply
      • Patti Estep

        March 30, 2017 at 3:28 pm

        Hi Karen,

        I knew many people would remember those fun designs. Now that spring is finally here I just had to make something colorful.
        Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
        Patti

        Reply
    3. Carole

      March 30, 2017 at 8:41 am

      What a fun project and can I just say how much I miss the Mary Engelbreit magazine? Well I do and these candlesticks do remind me of her. I love the spring colors and pinned this on one of Hometalk's boards this morning. The details and color complement in a grand way.

      Reply
      • Patti Estep

        March 30, 2017 at 3:26 pm

        Hi Carole,

        You are sweet as always. I have one of my kids home for Easter but I don't know if we will have time to dye eggs so I thought these would be fun.
        Thanks for stopping by,
        Patti

        Reply
    4. Sandi

      March 30, 2017 at 8:01 am

      Just perfectly lovely!

      Reply
      • Patti Estep

        March 30, 2017 at 3:25 pm

        Thanks Sandi!

        Reply

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