Mildy Crafty Monday: Painted Knife Block

Guess what today is? 
First day of school!  First day of school!

Yes. You have to say it like Nemo.  

Not only did I go back to work, but today I start my Master's degree program.  Work is paying for it 100%, so I'm getting my MBA.  Free is free, right?!?  At this point I have long term goals with my new company and the MBA will only do good things for my future career path.  It's only 1 class per quarter, and I'm pretty sure if I hunker down I can pull this off.

Wish me luck?

Oh, and it's spring...did you know?  I wanted some happiness in the kitchen so I headed over to Pinterest to see is anything caught my eye.  Sure did!  See.  I grabbed my knife block and spruced her up.

Painted Knife Block

Equipment:
Standard wood finish knife block - take all the knives and stuff out
Medium grit sand paper
Acrylic paint - Tahiti Blue 
Spray paint - White
Paint brush
Ruler
Pencil
Painter's tape
Cardboard
Painted wood decoration
Tacky glue

Method:

Grab your basic wood finished knife block.  Boring!  rub the entire surface of the knife block - sans knives - to remove any finish or grease.  

Blow away any dust on the block.  Wipe knife block with a damp paper towel.

Paint the knife block with your acrylic paint.  

Do your best to get a lot of excess paint into any holes cut in the block.  Apply a second coat of paint once the first coat is completely dry.  

I liked the color a lot, but a basic blue wasn't enough.  She needed some pizzazz.  The only thing that blue made me think of was tri-fives.  Apparently I drank the Kool-Aid.

I went Googling and found this picture.

 

{photo source}

I was totally sold.  I must have a two-toned tri-five inspired knife block.

I traced out the shape Mike helped be design.  I was going for a "fin" look.

This is original design plan - in the end I didn't like it and changed things, but I'm showing how I did laid out the design in case you like it.

• Measure 1 1/2" up from the bottom of the knife block back, and draw a straight line across the back.
• From the top side edge, measure out 3" (1 1/2" past were the first line stops).  From the bottom corner, measure out 1 1/2" diagonally.
• Connect a line from the back 1 1/2" spot to the diagonal 1 1/2" spot.
• Connect the diagonal 1 1/2" spot to the top corner of the side.
• Connect a straight line from the top corner to the bottom corner. 

I hand painted the white onto the knife block for the original design.  Just follow your pencil lines the best you can.

Here's what the first two-tone design looked like.  It's fine, but the more we looked at it, the more it wasn't quite right.

To change things up, take out the "L" in the white.  Connect the 1 1/2" line from the back to the top corner - creating one long diagonal line.

Use painter's tape to create the diagonal line from corner to corner.  Mask the rest of the knife block with paper.  Repeat on the other side of the block and along the back line.

Spray paint the unmasked section white.  The painter's tape with give you crisp, clean lines.  Mike was freaking out over my hand painted, slightly wobbly lines.  After the first coat of paint dries, apply a second coat of paint, and let it dry completely.

Carefully peel of tape and paper.

The front's a little boring.  I wasn't into the whole monogrammed idea from the PIN I used for inspiration.  I remember I had these cool little wood decorations I happened to grab at Joann's the other day.

The colors totally line up!!  * squeal*

Apply some Tacky glue to the back of the wood decal.

Line it up on the front of the knife block, and press down.  

If the glue oozes out, grab a q-tip and wipe it off.  The glue will dry clear, so no worries.

Once the glue dries you are done!  How freakin' easy was that?!?!

She's so happy now!

I love my knife block!!!