Book­shelves have always been a chal­lenge for me. One I fig­ured out a lit­tle pat­tern for styling it start­ed to become eas­i­er. Believe it or not book­shelves are not just for books…gasp! Every­day things you have around your house like can­dle­stick, spin­dles, and orbs are all per­fect ways to add depth and char­ac­ter to your shelves. This lit­tle DIY plant stand is so easy and afford­able you just have to try it!

Supplies Needed:

• Small can­dle­stick (mine was 25 cents from a thrift store. SCORE!)
• Hot Glue Gun
• Small wood plaque
• Wood Stain
• Old rag
• Paint col­or of your choice
• Paint­brush
• Sand­pa­per

Start by stain­ing your wood plaque. Use an old rag or paint­brush to apply a thin coat over the entire sur­face of the plaque. I rec­om­mend do the bot­tom of the plaque as well.

Then, we move on to the dis­tress­ing tech­nique. Hon­est­ly, if you’re sat­is­fied with the look of the stain you could skip this step. If you wan­na try your hand at dis­tress­ing, dry brush­ing is eas­i­est tech­nique out there. 

Grab your paint and paint­brush and just bare­ly dip the ends of the brush in paint. Less is more for dry brush­ing. Paint right over the stain in a cross-hatch­ing motion, care­ful not to cov­er stain completely.

After apply­ing your thin coat of paint, grab your sand­pa­per start sand­ing the edges of your plaque. Any­where you want to look a bit worn just remove a lit­tle paint. I like to expose a lit­tle of the nat­ur­al wood col­or under­neath. It makes new wood look like it has been age­ing over the years.

Once you’re sat­is­fied with your dis­tress­ing it’s time to attached your can­dle­stick to your plaque using hot glue or any oth­er strong adhe­sive you have handy. 

It’s real­ly that stinkin’ easy! Style it with a cute lit­tle plant, or use it for a can­dle, the pos­si­bil­i­ties are end­less here!

-PIN FOR LATER-