The Washboard Story

Once upon a time, there was a very sad looking washboard that was abandoned by it's owners who moved to Colorado. No one else wanted this old, dirty washboard, so he was placed in the "to be thrown" pile. The poor guy felt dejected sitting there in my mother-in-law's garage. I'm sure he was once loved. Little did he know that when I found him, he'd be loved again and oh boy do I love him!

 

 

When I found him in the garage he was so dirty I didn't realize there were any words!

I gave him a bath before I took a picture. You may just have to trust me when I say, it was dirty.

"Bonafide Brass"
 

After giving it a bath I took it apart and started sanding it. , I don't have any pictures of that. Its not the fun part to see anyways. When I was done sanding it I knew I wanted to restore it to its former glory and staining it would be the best option.

Since I got it for free I didn't exactly want to spend a whole lot on it. Frugal, I am. I searched my Dad's garage and found some Polyshades, (as you can tell by the rust, its been around for awhile). I'll let you know right away this stuff is sticky and isn't like a normal stain. It has polyurthane in it which also gives it a little bit of shine.You can find it here at home depot, they have all sorts of colors. 

 

Early on I knew I wanted the washboard to be useful and had decided that it would make the perfect shelf! My Dad and I once again went out and perused the garage, we found some spare wood and he helped me fashion a shelf.  

 

I'm sure it's a known fact that every project has a few bumps along the way, this one did not disppoint. The wood we used for the shelf, though wonderfully repurposed was a different kind and the stain color was way off. Before we set off to the store Mike and my Dad thought using different oils would darken it up. Haha trust me when I say, it didn't work. Valiant effort though boys. We caved and bought some MinWax Dark Walnut for the shelf. Before we stained it we used my Great Grandpa's old school wood plainer to rough it up a little.

 

 

 

The metal sheet of the washboard proved to be a problem when we were trying to put it back in. It was too big. Originally it was assembled in a way that the wood pieces were built around the metal piece. 

 

 

 Mike ended up using a dremel to cut it down. Each bit by bit we cut we checked to see how it was fitting. After a few cuts it slid in with minimal effort. Hooray!

  

 

After the staining the words were hardly visible. I hand painted the words using regular acrylic paint and a very tiny detailing brush. (The words were my favorite part from the beginning)

Tada!



 

I'll be using this shelf in the guest bedroom in our new house and much preferred a silver over the gold. Good ol' spray paint made it happen. I left one side gold in case one day I get a little crazy and change my mind ;)

 

 

The End

xo Breia

 

**Stay tuned to see where Mr. Washboard will live. We aren't starting on the guest room for awhile. The living room is our first project.