Project Challenge #10 HVAC or Duct tape

Posted byshelstringPosted inUncategorized

Well can you believe it’s yet another Project Challenge?! That means October is almost over…how can that have happened so fast?! I’m so glad to have you here today and share with you something my little boy has been wanting for quite awhile. A couple years ago we sat down and brainstormed all the things we wanted to do to his room. Then, due to circumstances, he ended up sharing with one of his big brothers for awhile. Now, with two children having left home, we have a little space freed up. This made it possible for all of our boys to have their own rooms. Now my 8 year old and I are ready to encorporate all the ideas we had before, as well as a few more. It all started with this neat statue he begged me to buy him one day while shopping at Ross. I couldn’t refuse since this little guy hardly ever asks for anything.

He loves the whole Knight theme. Horses, dragons blowing fire (this one is from one of my rare trips to Ikea), swords, maps, battle.

 His bedroom is basically a blank canvas. Plenty of space to do whatever we want to, though the room is the smallest of them all. There was nothing above his bed, so we had decided to add a shield. It took me awhile of pinterest searching to find something that was suitable. That’s where this idea came from. (to see the inspiration, you can go here).

To make this, I cut out the shape I wanted from a cardboard box we had leftover from our air conditioner. 
Here are the step by step photos of how I did it from there. The cardboard was a template for the shield I actually made from a piece of dry erase board I had out in the garage. Any 1/8-1/4″ board would be perfect for this project. 
1- Primer, then cut out
2 &3- Spray paint with silver metallic giving the whole shield 4-5 coats with an hour dry time in between.
4- Draw tree trunk and branches. I used this Martha Stewart bird stencil and eyeballed where I wanted the branches to be.
5- Trace over penciled tree with puff paint.
6- Let dry thoroughly. I let this dry over night. It was still pretty tacky after 2 hours from all the layers of spray paint and then the puff paint as well..
7- When dry, brandish using black chalk paint and a damp rag over the edges in swirling and swiping motions. Acrylic paint would probably work just as well here.
8- finish edges with HVAC tape. I let this crinkle a little to add a design. 

At first I just made it silver with brandishing to look old and used in battle (as shown in the picture above), but I felt like it lacked a contrast, so I added some gold leaf rub and buff to the HVAC tape around the edges, as well as the tree, and went over it again with a wash of chalkboard paint.

It stands out a lot more with the gold. I was not very careful with the HVAC tape (as you can see). This wasn’t a concern to me because of the nature of the project, but it was also my first time using HVAC tape. To be honest, if I were to do it again, I would use a little more care and control.
When the reaction you hear when your son sees it for the first time is “COOL!!!”, then it doesn’t really matter how “perfect” it didn’t turn out after all anyway.  
 Thanks to this challenge, I think we’re off to a good start.

Now go see all these other fun projects by clicking on the links or pictures below, they are well worth the time. 😉
Sew a Fine Seam– pendant banner
Down to Earth Style– belt re-do
Fern Creek Cottage– feathers
Happy At Home– adorned lamp shade
Little Brags– mossy jars
Patina Paradise– updating a frame

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21 thoughts on “Project Challenge #10 HVAC or Duct tape”

  3. Michele this is so totally awesome! I love the addition of the gold and I LOVE that you created this for your son 🙂 It's so fun when our kids want us to create something for them and then love it when we are finished with it!

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  13. Thank you for saying so! I wasn't sure if I'd like the gold, but I have to agree, I do think it makes a better statement on the wall with the additional color tone.

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  14. Thank you Becky, fun to use puff paint again–it amazes me. The experience with the tape made me feel like I'd like to try it on something else sometime, so we'll see!

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  16. For some reason, I'm always relieved that they love it so much in the end. I think their enthusiasm and excitement is what compels me to do more for them time and again.

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  19. What a awesome and creative idea – I'm sure your son adores it. I'm pinning it! I hope you'll come link up at the Vintage Inspiration Party at Knick of Time every Tuesday evening! 🙂

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