Sunday, March 2, 2014

Weekend Project and Tutorial: Beach Hut Wall Hook

Good Morning Everyone!

As you know I live in Central Texas which is about 3 to 4 hours to the closest beach.  However, I love, love, love the beach!  So when Graphic 45 came out with the By The Sea Collection, I was totally inspired to create!

Last night, I was looking through some Google images of beach huts and came across this one from theguardian.com....I love architecture and totally love tiny houses be it treehouses, writers studios, or tiny cottages...So this caught my eye and gave me the inspiration...

 
To know me, is to know that I like things that I make to be functional.  So to just make a beach hut to just sit there...not so much...What if I made a few beach huts and added a bit of functionality to them...HOOKS!  Something to throw my keys on when I come in the door or to hang small things on to keep them up off  my work surfaces!
 
Here's what I came up with...




 
Now, I made a video of how to make the beach huts, but darned if I can get it to upload...So please check back either on this page or a new post for this video when IT decides to load...Sorry about that! 
 
 
Here's how I made the backing board for the huts....
 
1. I purchased the wood piece from Hobby Lobby.  It's 6 x 18-inches.
 
2.  I painted the wood piece with Tim Holtz Broken China Distress Paint first.  I let it dry.
 
 
3.  I then went around the edges and a few places on the front with some candle wax.
 
 
 
4.  I then painted over the Broken China with a mix of some white and ivory craft paint.  I allowed it to dry.
 
 
 
5.  The candle wax acts like a resist.  I took some fine sandpaper and went over the entire piece pulling up sections of the white/ivory craft paint.
 
 
 
6.  I wiped the piece clean with a dry cloth, getting all the little paint pieces off the piece and my work surface.
 
7.  I also purchased some hooks...It's long story about the hooks so let me just say, I went to the Dollar Store.  I found these little jobbies in the department with the kitchen towels. They had an adhesive padded back to them.  I wanted them to be flat, so I took the heat gun after them.  While they were still a bit hot, I pulled the padded adhesive off. 
 
 
 
8.  I found the center bottom of my wood piece and marked it at 9-inches.  I then applied Glossy Accents to the disks back and adhered it to the center point.
 
 
 
9.  I applied Ranger's Matte Medium Glue and Seal to the backside of one of the huts and adhered it centered over the hook.  By The Way, don't be stingy with this stuff...give it a big gloppy coat!
 
 
 
10.  I went over 5-inches from each side of the center and placed another mark.  I repeated the steps above to the disk and hut and adhered the remaining two huts and hooks to the left and right of the central hut.
 
 
 
11. Last, I added (2) saw edge picture hangers to the back of the wood piece so that the Beach Hut Hook Unit would hang on the wall..
 
VOILA!  That's it!
 
Hope you can find some inspiration from this.  It was a fun and functional piece to add to my house.  Hope you give it a go...
 
Have an awesome weekend!
 
Jim
The Gentleman Crafter


24 comments:

  1. Neat! As an ex-Navy person I also love the beach and anything to do with the sea. Have to think about this one. It has been awhile since I have done any creative in woodworking.

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  2. Thanks for sharing the tutorial Jim - gotta give this a try and take my mind off of the snow around me!

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  3. I am in love with your work! I adore everything you create! You are a genius when it comes to crafting & creating these wonderful items! I don't know how you do it! If I could create a third of what you do, I'd be content. Thank you for all of your hard work & inspiration! Also kudos to you for the amazing Breast Cancer gift shop. It is a work of love. Looking forward to your next creation!

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  4. LOVE IT!!! As always, you amaze me with your talent to dream up all your creations!! Keeping my fingers crossed that the cyber gods will relinquish their hold on your video and allow it to upload!!!

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    1. Finally had time to watch the video...well done! Love how you put together the little house. Thanks for taking the time to make the video...and...sticking with it until it finally uploaded!!

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  5. Love this Jim! You always come up with great projects. Those hook jobbies are cool! Would love to hear the whole sorted hook tale, ha! Looking forward to the video whenever it decides to make an appearance. Have a great Sunday!

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  6. Too cute!! I may have to do one house and 2 boats bobbing on water. Our water is a lake.

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  7. What a great project. I think I will have to try this. You do think up the most wonderful things to make. Hope your video will upload soon. Thanks again for the inspiration.

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  8. I LOVE it! They made my happy and I almost can smell the ocean. Looking forward to your video

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  9. Beautiful project! I like that you made it functional, too. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. I recently found your blog and I have to say I love all your work. I live near the beach on the east coast and I can think of so many people who would love for me to make them one! Thanks for all the great ideas.

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  11. Love it! I love the beach too and this really got me thinking....

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  12. Hi Jim, just like everyone else I love this project. I've never worked with chipboard before, but this makes me wanna give it a shot. The video is great, real good tips on it too. Looking forward to seeing more. A new follower from way across the pond. ;)

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  13. Great job on this piece Jim! That collection is so inspiring.

    Mary

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  14. Wow! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these little beach huts! When I was a little girl my grandparents used to take me to Bournemouth beach occasionally and I remember us using one of these little huts! It was mostly used to get changed into swimming suits, but it did have a tiny table and chairs and Grandma used to take a picnic and a flask of hot tea for us - just the job after a dip in the freezing sea!

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  15. Coool & Beachy! & so functional too! Love it! thanks for sharing!

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  16. Such an awesome piece. Does it go on your scrap room wall? If so, it will look stunning.

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  17. I absolutely love this! I'm going to make something like this for my sister's birthday...she has a place at the beach, and would love this. You are such a clever fella!

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  18. Love it.. I will be trying this when you get the video up and loaded on how to make the beach houses. Thanks for sharing.

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  19. clever idea! thanks for sharing

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  20. Gorgeous, Gorgeous! I love this idea and it turned out fantastic! You Rock... sorry I am a bit behind, life seems to have gotten in the way again! Blah... I hate when that happens!

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  21. Really cute, and clever! I love the orange and grey too. Thanks for sharing!

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  22. This is awesome, I came across your blog by way of the Graphic 45 site and I'm so glad I found you. You are so very creative and inspirational!
    Have a happy day!
    Babs

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