Young House Love

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Painting A Thrift Store Wood Duck

We’re excited to share our Cincy adventures (we laughed! I cried! we got something confiscated at the airport!) and we’ve already started our Pinterest challenge project along with having a pretty cool before & after that’s almost done (just have to take pics and write that post for ya) so there’s lots going on in our casa – both duck related and beyond! I say duck related because, well… I snagged this odd little wooden duck for $4 at a thrift store here in Richmond (Diversity Thrift). The date? Oh, about a year ago. Yes dudes, I’m about to get on something after twelve solid months of the “thinking about getting on that” stage (you can read more about my weird little Dude, Get On That Already challenges here). So you can file this under fast and *almost* free (thanks to relying entirely on materials that we already had). Or you can just call it fly. Get it? I quack myself up. Ok, I’m stopping now.

Duck 1 Before

It’s hard to tell the duck’s scale in the pic above, but it’s about 8″ long. Here it is with a whole bunch of craft paint that I had on hand from previous projects like this and this. And see how I used masking tape to make stripes on Mallory (she’s a mallard, right? I hope she is, since I picked her name based on that not-substantiated fact). Anyway, those masking tape stripes were because as soon as I saw her in the thrift store I thought it would be fun to stripe her with a bunch of crazy colors. I know that sounds nutty, but to me it felt sort of Jonathan Adler-ish and happy-go-lucky. I mean if you can’t have fun with your wooden duck decor, where can you have fun?

Duck 2 Taped

It’s hard to picture, but I loved the idea of a stripes like this dachshund pillow from here (<– please click that link just to see the name of that site, which made me snort water out of my nose). And this awesome post about actual painted ducks from here definitely fueled the “paint it, paint it, paint it” chant in my head.

Striped Dog Pillow

I’m not gonna lie. About ten minutes into my project I was staring at this hot mess. And I thought this might be one of those “you know we share the good, the bad, and the ugly… and boy do we have an ugly one for you!” posts. The first coat definitely didn’t have great coverage, so it actually took a few of them for it to look not horrendous (hindsight = 20/20, I totally should have spray primed this guy before taping off the stripes).

Duck 3 Paint On

But in the end, after I removed the tape and free-handed the unpainted areas with differently colored stripes, I was left with this dapper little duck-friend. She’s adorable and perfect for a nursery/kids room/playroom, but I wanted to photograph her in the kitchen so you could see that she actually can live in adult spaces too. You know, like how this happy rainbow Jonathan Adler pillow could totally look awesome in not-just-a-kids room. At least for color-lovahs like me. But if it’s too much for you, you could just spray paint your own wooden duck a solid hue like glossy white or lime or navy for a fresh spin. You know, because every house needs at least one wooden duck.

Duck Afterclose

I actually like the added flair of the stripes. I think she’s cute with the spiky yellow vase and colorful art on the top shelf. And of course the fact that she’s neck in neck with a pig cutting board in a race towards the stove cracks me up. Who knows where she’ll end up though. Little items like this tend to move all around the house, so she might be on the kitchen mantel next and then end up on the console in the living room.

Duck 5 Kitchen Full

Goose, there it is.

Ok, I know that one’s a stretch because it’s clearly a duck, but I just had to try. What have you guys been getting on lately? As a side note, I don’t actually suggest getting on a duck. One bit my mom’s hand when we were young so I don’t think they like to be ridden (just to be clear, my mom wasn’t attempting to ride it when the incident occurred).

Comments

  1. kyle says

    Cute! I would have loved to have seen him with just the stripes that were taped off painted and his natural paint job between them(the part that was under the tape)…I was thinking it might look cool (but you saw it…awesome or awful?)

    Wait…does any of that make sense? I’m running on 2 hours of sleep thanks to baby girl.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yeah, I thought maybe it would be cool but it was crazy! It sort of looked moldy and spotted in the unpainted spots, just because the new paint was solid and bright and it was sort of textured and muted and spotty. Wish I took a picture of that phase for ya!

      xo
      s

  2. Brittany watts says

    I’ve never really commented before, but this duck makes me love you guys and the blog even more! I love it!!

    Reply

  3. Whitney Dupuis says

    Pet My Weiner. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

    (Love the duck, by the way. Totally agree on the glossy layer comments too!)

    Reply

  4. Kristen says

    SNORT! I’m in tears laughing so hard about the riding ducks comment at the end of the post! Thanks, I needed that today ;)

    Reply

  5. Marisa Fedele says

    THANK YOU for the Pet My Wiener link. You’ve now provided me with several years’ worth of birthday and Christmas gifts for my dachsund-obsessed stepmother!

    Reply

  6. Renee says

    Oh my gosh Sherry! I love this! I’m totally pinning this as a project for our living room. However, I may just go neutral with brown and latte stripes to match our living room of course. Now, I’m off to find a wood animal of some sorts! Thanks for the awesome idea!

    Reply

  8. vel says

    wow!! you guys are true blue superstars!!!!! You are EVERYWHERE – just saw the RedBook aricle too and can’t wait for my copy of your sure-to-be awesome book!!! Congrats and more success to you both!

    Reply

  9. Jami @ An Oregon Cottage says

    Ha! Just a few weeks ago I painted a duck – well, I thought it was a duck, but after I published the post my husband pointed out that it was a Canada Goose. Whatever – it’s a swan now because of course I’m not as brave as you and used my trusty white paint. :)

    But you and your animal-painting-ways totally inspired this post:
    http://www.anoregoncottage.com/2012/10/painted-animal-figurines/

    Love you guys – your updates are my favorites!

    Reply

  11. Allison says

    Don’t know if anyone already said this, but how about painting her/his eyes black? Or, better yet, popping them out and replacing with cute buttons? I love the stripes, but that “real” looking eye on the stripe-tastic duck is kind-of creeping me out! Love you guys!

    Reply

  14. Michelle DuPuis says

    My son saw the picture of your painted duck while I was reading this and immediately declared “I want that!” Don’t know how I feel about the whole striped water fowl thing, but I guess my 2-year-old is all for it!

    Reply

  15. Cassie says

    We actually were chased by ducks during our last visit to the was-a-canal-now-it’s-a-pond at the park! We walked across the bridge to get away and they swam across and then chased us BACK over the bridge!!

    I love the duck though. So adorable!

    Reply

  16. Melissa says

    WOAH! I thought duck looked rather interesting as he/she was, but with the new colors?! AWESOME!! That’s even something my 5 yo could do….maybe…..

    Reply

  22. Carrie S. says

    Hey Sherry. Long time reader, first time commenter. Love the stripes. I feel inspired to stripe up some antlers I have laying around.

    Reply

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