A frame built from wood on my Grandfather's farm...

 

This frame was built from barn wood that was in the horse barn on my grandfather's, then my father's farm. 

We got my mother a picture of a country auction one year and one of the great guys who used to work for my Dad built this frame.

I never thought the frame did the picture justice and I painted it several times (different colors) and finally took the picture to a professional framer and it hangs above our bed.

When Rick (my son the contractor) was here on Sunday for dinner I asked him what he thought I should do with it.  It's been sitting in the garage for about 4 years and I was afraid Mr. Bird Nest might throw it away.

 

Rick suggested I remove all the layers of paint and take it back to it's original state.  Easy for him to say. 

I started the project in my workroom (the kitchen counter) and then yesterday turned out to be such a great day, I took it outside.

I painted on stripper, scraped and repeated that over and over.  You didn't think I'd wait 30 minutes like they told you on the directions, did you?

Then I sanded and sanded.  Barn wood is really rough and if it's not sanded it can collect a lot of dirt and dust.

 

This is the finished, sanded frame.  I'm glad not all the whitewash came off. 

This morning I'm going over to Rick's wood shop to pick up the backing he's cutting for me.

Know what I'm going to do with it?  Yep, it's going to be a blackboard in my kitchen.  I think I'll like looking at it every day.

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen