Nautical Theme Decor

As part of my stash liquidation mission I finished painting a display piece for our bathroom. I originally purchased it at a thrift store last year (for $1.50) and thought it had a lot of potential but the colors just did not say ocean/beach/nautical to me in any way! (Except for maybe that touch of red)

I started out by painting the background blue, the boat white and attempting to paint the frame white. But no matter how many layers I painted (with craft paint or artists' acrylic paint) the black would always soak through! It was so frustrating I just put it aside for many, many months.

But a couple days ago I got it back out and decided to finish it, one way or another. Then I got the idea to use the leftover thinned gray/brown paint that I used in my weathered wood shelf.  I used a foam brush and did one light coat over the white of the frame.  I thought the brush strokes gave it almost a faux wood grain kind of look.  I blended just a touch of gray/brown into the background and added a few red accents with a tiny detail brush.

Now I love it! It looks great hanging in the bathroom (especially with our rich red, vintage, damask towels)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! To all my Canadian readers -- Happy Canada Day! (A day late) And all my American readers -- Happy Independence Day!

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I'll be linking up to these fabulous parties!

Monday - Craft o Maniac Monday -- Pink Hippo Party -- Craft Catwalk -- Craftastic Monday -- Amaze Me Monday -- Polly Want 2 Party -- Making the World Cuter Monday -- Making Monday Marvelous -- Tuesday - Get Your Craft On -- Sew Cute Tuesday -- Tip Me Tuesday -- Take a Look Tuesday -- Show Me What Ya Got -- Tuesday Time Out -- Show and Tell at Blue Cricket -- Tutorial Tuesday -- Wednesday - Seven Thrity Three -- Wallet-Friendly Wednesday -- Show Off Your Stuff -- Create and Share -- A Crafty Soiree -- Whatever Goes Wednesday -- We Did it Wednesday! -- Your Whims Wednesday -- Linkin’ with Lil’ Luna -- We Did it Wednesday -- Passionately Artistic -- Thursday - Strut your Stuff Thursday -- Transformation Thursday -- Thrilling Thursday -- House of Hepworths -- Chic and Crafty Thursday -- Friday - Remodelaholic Friday -- Flaunt it Friday -- Frugal Friday -- Weekend Wander -- Furniture Feature Friday -- Show and Share Day -- Fun with Food Friday -- It's Fun to Craft! -- Tickled Pink Fridays -- Weekend Wrap-up Party -- Catch as Catch Can -- Friday Flair -- Feature Yourself Friday -- Fantabulous Friday -- Simply Link {Party} -- No Rules Link Party -- Pity Party -- Saturday - Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special -- Saturday is Crafty Day -- Let's Get Crafty Saturday -- Show and Tell Saturdays -- Saturday Spotlight -- Sunday - The DIY Showoff Project Parade -- Sunday Showcase Party -- Creative Bloggers Party -- I Heart Naptime -- Think Pink Sundays