Rustic Pottery Barn knock off

Hey HEY! The Before and After Party is going strong – be sure to check it out and link up! SO MUCH fantastic inspiration!

It’s time for another holiday link up:

We’ve seen some amazing mantels at Layla’s, beautiful vignettes at Rhoda’s, and now I can’t wait to see all the crafty goodness at Kate’s!

I was inspired by this project months ago when I got a Pottery Barn catalog and saw this:

It is three by three feet, and it was one of those made me say “Oh come ON!” out loud. :) Especially because of the price – I can’t remember what it was, but it made me freak out just a little bit.

I knew I wanted to recreate it, and initially I was going to use some big honkin’ cardboard letters like I used for my Ballard-esque monogram.

But wow…they are BIG. :) So I got to thinking and went a new direction…and I love the new direction.

I had some luan scraps in the garage and cut one to the size I wanted:

Ignore the awful tree drawing on the back – that was a project that never happened. ;) Trust me, that’s a good thing.

I had some leftover paintable wallpaper from a project in the Bub’s room, and decided to cover the board with it:

I found some letters at Joann’s that weren’t monster size, in a font I loved. I spray painted them and some leftover trim a festive red:

But because I wanted to display this project in our family room (which has a slightly rustic vibe for the holidays), the bright red wasn’t the look I was going for.

Enter my friend Beth’s sister and her take on this same project! I loved how she darkened her letters just a bit, so I did the same. LOVE when I find what I need when I’m not even looking! :)

I used some burnt umber craft paint:

And I mixed a bit of water in with it:

Then just brushed it on with my foam brush, and wiped most of it off. The top is before, the bottom after:

I did the same with the letters, but didn’t wipe nearly as much off. The wood was rougher and soaked it up a bit more, which I liked:

I arranged the trim and letters how I wanted, then attached them with my nail gun (but you could also glue them on!).

I’m really pleased with how it turned out!:

Is it still considered a craft if I used major power tools to create it? Hmmmm…

A trip to Joann’s and craft paint were involved, so I say YES. :)

I did a little rustic vignette with our new art on the Craigslist dresser. The sled was a find years ago at a farmhouse down the street that used to have the GREATEST sales:

It was five bucks and I love it so! The little mittens were supposed to be ornaments:

The little tree used to sit in the kitchen, but I thought it was perfect here:

I know little candy ornaments don’t exactly scream rustic, but I’m working with what I’ve got here peeps! :)

I mixed some ornaments and pinecones in a lovely bowl I got a while ago from Meijer of all places:

I am loving their kitchen/serving aisles lately!

And all together, it’s a slightly rustic, Pottery Barn knock-off, using what we have Christmas vignette!:

The letters were $1.99 each, I think? I had everything else. :) I luuurve that font for those letters, especially the little curl on the “O” – too cute! Altogether it took about 90 minutes to put together, but I did it over a few days.

Don’t you LOVE taking something you love in a catalog and making it your own for a few bucks?! Awwww. yeah.  :)

Can’t wait to see your crafty projects at Kate’s! And don’t forget we’re wrapping up the Holiday Home parties later this week with my Christmas tree party. WHOO!

P.S. Jess did a version of this too, and it’s identical to the PB one – for eight bucks!!

P.P.S. Many of you asked where you can find fake snow after my Walmart post – I’ve found it at Hobby Lobby in years past, and Target this year. Target has decent sized bags for $1.99 each. :)

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