• Home
  • Cooking
  • Frugal Living
  • Home Management
  • Homeschooling
  • Real Life

The Happy Housewife™ :: Home Management

Where Martha Meets Real Life

  • My Home
  • DIY
  • Organize
  • Home Management
  • Green Living
  • Archives

Trash to Treasure

by Toni Herrbach

sewcraftybutton.jpg

A few weeks ago I wrote about finding old window panes in a field. My friend and I had the idea to clean them up, paint them and then use them decoratively in our houses. And since she is such a great friend, she did all the work! Here is the before picture.

dsc04711.jpg

My friend cleaned up the panes and then they looked like this…

wp.jpeg

The she painted the areas that she wanted crackled with a base coat. This must be an acrylic paint. This is the color that will show through.

wp1.jpeg

After the base coat is dry, paint on the crackle paint, only on the spots you painted with the base coat.

Then paint the whole thing another color with acrylic paint. She chose black.

wp3.jpeg

When painting this coat make sure you have plenty of paint on your brush, because you can only go over the crackled areas once. If you paint over it more than once it streaks and looks really bad.

Finally seal the project with a sealer.

Here are the finished projects.

wp4.jpeg

Close up….

wp2.jpeg

Aren’t these just beautiful!

You can find out more about the crackle paint technique here.

The Happy Housewife

You can find more Sew Crafty Friday here

Comments | 7 comments

« Purses
Green Living Tips »

Comments

  1. Heather says

    at

    I love this idea!! I have some old window frames in one of the sheds here that I have been saving, knowing I want to do something with them, but not knowing what. this just may be it! 🙂

    Reply
  2. Stephanie Bowman says

    at

    Way to go Jo Jo!!! LOL…….. they look great

    Reply
  3. Bridget says

    at

    WOW those look awesome!! My Mom used to dig stuff out of people’s garbage like that on those Spring clean up trash days and she’d refinish things and make them look brand new!!! I will have to try the crackle thing… that makes it look so cool!!! Nice job! (and heck… you found them in the field?? At least you didn’t have to go trash picking!! LOL)
    🙂 Bridget

    Reply
  4. mom2fur says

    at

    You and your friend sure put the ‘treasure’ in ‘trash to treasure.’ Not everyone can come across a sad, forgotten set of window panes and turn them into works of art!

    Reply
  5. Terri says

    at

    You and your friend did a great job on these. What a wonderful way to recycle!

    Reply
  6. Young Wife says

    at

    Those look great! You could do this with old picture frames, too!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Baby Steps to Clean the Bedroom | The Happy Housewife says:
    at

    […] am excited that I finally found a place to hang the window pane. It has been sitting behind my couch for a few months now. Since I don’t have a headboard, I […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

STAY UPDATED!

Get every article delivered to your inbox!

Search Home Management

Who is Happy?

Recent Posts

  • Burlap Valentine’s Banner
  • Get Organized by Living With Less Clutter!
  • Coffee Filter Valentine’s Day Bouquet
  • Pom-Pom Heart Wreath
  • How to Ice Proof Steps During Winter

Organized in 365

homemade_christmas_gifts

Favorite DIY’s

  • Easy Fabric Gift Bags
  • Lion Costume
  • Low Sew Chic: Purse from Jeans
  • No Sew Tutu
  • Place-Mat Purse

STAY UPDATED!

Get every article delivered to your inbox!

Burlap Valentine’s Banner

By Toni Herrbach Leave a Comment

Get Organized by Living With Less Clutter!

By Toni Herrbach 368 Comments

CATEGORIES

ARCHIVES

Copyright © 2026 · Tasteful theme by Restored 316

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2026 · Tasteful Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in