DIY Christmas Window Wall Rack: A Holiday Stencil Create and Share Challenge

I had an old window from a friend’s barn. It was really gross and dirty and I’m sure it had been sitting there for decades being useless. But she gave it to me for free! So yes, yes I will take your old window 🙂 Check out the tutorial below to see how I turned an old barn window into a DIY Farmhouse Christmas Wall Rack, perfect for hanging stockings!

 

Disclosure: I was given a free stencil  from Cutting Edge Stencils in exchange for this tutorial post.

(This post contains affiliate links. This means I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.)

 

 

The first thing I had to do was give this thing a real scrub down. I rinsed it down with water and a scrub brush, then I got down to the real business.

I have a secret about cleaning garbage finds…

…this product normally cleans toilets…

yea. I use toilet bowl cleaner.

Particularly a gel cleaner with bleach. When I really need the cleaner to stay in place, I turn toward the toilet cleaner. Check out the difference!

Now that the window is all cleaned, it’s time to paint!

To complete this project, I used the following items (affiliate links):

1. An old window
2. The NOEL caps medium stencil and paint roller from Cutting Edge Stencils
3. A gel toilet bowl cleaner with bleach
4. Isopropyl Alcohol
5. Painter’s Tape
6. Scissors
7. Latex paint for semi-permanent or Acrylic Glass Paint for Permanent
8. A piece of wood for shelf
9. Minwax Early American stain
10. A circular saw, or a miter saw for more experienced DIYers
11. Decorative hooks
12. A power drill I have this one
13. A drill bit set
14. air compressor and nail gun

Before painting the letters on the glass, I first began by washing the glass with isopropyl alcohol. That removes any unwanted oil, dirt, and moisture that might remain on the glass.

This is the NOEL caps craft medium stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils. I actually thought it was smaller, I was planning on doing a smaller chalkboard. But it ended up being much larger than I anticipated.

The only way I could really get it to sit flat was if I cut out each individual letter. The wood in between the window panes was not allowing the stencil to sit flat.

But the good news is that the stencil cut pretty well, so I’ll still be able to use it for other projects. It was thick enough that the letters are still sturdy. That’s the biggest difference between these stencils and the vinyl I usually use. When I cut the vinyl I use for most of my projects, it usually makes the stencil kind of flimsy. So that was a pleasant surprise that this stencil cut very well and still stayed together.

Anyway, I cut each letter individually so that they would sit inside the window pane. And then I pretty much just laid each letter in the window panes and made sure they were even. I had to cut the mistletoe pieces out because they weren’t fitting in the window, but I’ll add them back into the design later.

The stencil is not adhesive, so you have to tape it down so it doesn’t move. You also have to be even more careful about the paint seeping under the stencil. Since this is on glass, I really didn’t care too much about seeping, since I can always go back and scrape off the mistakes.

I used just regular semi-gloss latex wall paint for this project. I’m planning to take the paint off after the holiday, so do this only if you want a semi-permanent solution.

If you want your paint to last, you’ll have to buy an acrylic glass paint.

In between coats, I grabbed some scrap wood that I had and cut it down to the width of the window. I found a piece of pallet wood I had left over. I wanted to use an old board so I could match it better to the color of the window. I use a miter saw to cut most of my wood, but I started with a circular saw and I could pretty much do everything I needed.

I stained the wood with Minwax Early American stain. I just rubbed it on with a paper towel, just to richen it up a little bit and give it a deeper dimension. I cut it to the width of the window.

And the next thing I did was slap some paint on with a paint brush. I did it to one side of the board. I thought I would match the top shelf with the window, but I ended up liking the contrast of the stain wood side better than the painted side. So the painted side is the top of the shelf, and the stained side is the bottom. I used my air compressor and nail gun to attach the wood piece to the top of the window frame.

 

The last step was to add some hooks to the side of the window.

Once everything was dried, I went through and scraped off the paint that seeped under the stencil.

And here it is all decorated!

I made the Reindeer wood art myself with my cricut, but everything else I bought at Target.

 

The mini skis, red candle holder, and tree are from Target Dollar Spot.

The little plaid reindeer is actually a Christmas ornament from their ornament section in the back of the store.

That’s where I found the mini stockings too.

I bought one for our cat and dog.

I love that after Christmas I can just scrape the paint right off and use it all through the year.

I already have ideas for the spring!

Thanks a ton for stopping by! If you like this post and want to support my blog, please pin this image on Pinterest to help spread the word!

And check out the 18 other bloggers and their amazing stencil ideas below!!

 

 

 

Last, but not least, if you want to try a stencil project yourself, enter to win one here!
a Rafflecopter giveaway