Home Stories A to Z

Creating beauty out of chaos and sharing my home decor stories

Restyled Barn Stars

Last Christmas, I saw these barn stars at 75% off clearance bringing them down to just over a dollar each. I wasn’t crazy about the solid gold dancer vibe they had going on, but I knew I could do something with them so bought all three. I redid one and hung it in my kitchen. The other two have been playing home to the spiders in my basement. Ew. Here is a BEFORE picture in all of its sparkly glory. Really this pic does not do justice to the glitteryness of these babies. They were glaring!
I decided to google images of “barn star” to get some ideas of how I might want to restyle these guys. I should have known that The Nester would hold the answer to my question. She’s amazing isn’t she? For her full tutorial on distressing barn stars click here. My technique was a bit different, but she gave me a great place to start from.

1. I busted out my free Glidden paint in Marshmallow White. What color did you all choose? I used a sponge brush and just covered the entire star.
2. I mixed some browns and a yellow and streaked it over my white. I didn’t wait for anything to dry at all. I just went for it. I then added a dash of Tabasco sauce…no wait…I didn’t. I have no idea why that bottle is sitting on my counter. Hubby no doubt left it there :).
3. I went back over some of the too dark areas with a brush of white and called it done. Here’s my finished star. It’s hard to tell from this picture, but some of the glittery wonder is shining through the paint which looks great.
These stars are going above my boys’ beds, so they needed something extra. You guessed it! An A and a Z. I’m obsessed and getting a bit predictable I’m afraid.
4. This is a very cool trick; if you don’t know this one already you’re going to want to pay attention. I’ve shared in previous posts how I often will print out my scrapbook paper from computer images of fabric swatches. Here I printed out a nice burberry plaid. I wanted a letter A from this burberry, so I placed it in my printer plaid-side-up. I then chose a font I liked in Word and sized it to 500. Under my printer options, I clicked on the “mirror image” button and printed it out. I cut around my letter A and have a perfect scrapbook stenciled A!

{Print out your own scrapbook paper from computer fabric swatch images.}

{Print A in mirror image on the back of your scrapbook paper.}

5. I took those little Target frames from the $1 section that I’ve talked about before and simply stuck the letters to the outside. Why didn’t you put them inside the frame? Well because I thought they looked more intriguing on the outside, and because they were too big to go inside the frame :).

6. I love the way they turned out. Now I just have to get to the MAJOR project in their room. I’m procrastinating with the little projects that are more manageable. I’m a bit scared to tackle the next one on my own and hubby has made it clear that it needs to be just that…on my own. Yikes. I’ll let you know how it’s going.

For more great DIY projects, be sure to check out the DIY Day at Kimba’s!
Blessings,
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Comments

  1. I love those stars! Really nice. I remember one year, I made my own stars like that out of aluminum flashing. They were much smaller, and I painted them and used glitter spray and gave them as Christmas ornaments. They were fun to make, but the folding of the flashing was a bit challenging.

    Anyway…your stars reminded me of that. 🙂 Yours are great. I really like the way you antiqued them.

  2. I love how those turned out. Barn stars are big in PA, just about every house has one. It's nice to see them repurpose for interior use. Thanks for sharing!

  5. You are a genius! You really do lay awake nights and think of this stuff. . .amazing!
    ~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

  9. Those look great. I love those stars esp. done in red, white and blue, but the added letters are such a great touch.
    Pam

  10. Beth, your barn stars are AMAZING!!! Love them! I have a tacky pinkish-red one that I need to redo for my baby boy's cowboy themed nursery – now you've inspired me =)

    I am so sorry to hear about your dad. I hate cancer, I really do. I am praying for him and for you.

    (((HUGS)))

    PS – I didn't make the pillows this weekend – I took your advice and rested instead =) It's on my list though – thanks for the emails!

    Heather

  11. oh my, what a change, you would never know those were those gold things, just beautiful

  12. Sorry…I meant to say enjoy your time with your dad. Unfortunately, this is something else we have in common. I can relate. I hope it goes well!

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