DIY farmhouse candle holders from a milking stool

If I had a barn this thrift shop buy would have been left as I bought it.  An old red barn with chippy sun faded paint and a huge wooden barn door.  Each morning I would open the latch and let the cows enter ready to be milked.  My thrifty treasure milking stool, with an extra large top, would keep me from toppling over when the cows tail thwacked me.

Since I don’t have a barn…or a cow…I decided to create a project I will use.

DIY Farmhouse Candle Holders

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Thrift Benefit for Sheltered Animals

Your local humane society survives on donations and grants from the ASPCA.  Grants are complicated to receive and usually tagged for specific needs.  In many areas, animal rescues start thrift shops to fill the gap between donations and grants.

I found many people in communities across the US didn’t realize the thrift store around the corner supports their animal rescues.  So I started the Thrift Benefit for Sheltered Animals.  Each October a group of DIY bloggers shops for a DIY project to share together.  It’s my way to promote the kind deeds of the volunteers.  And share the great treasures found at the stores.

Shopping and donating to these amazing thrift shops is a great way to help the animals in need.  The best way to find one in your area is to call the animal rescue and ask.  Our humane society thrift shop is the best in our community and all earnings go to support the Humane Society of Central AZ.    Several of my DIY projects end up back on their shelves for resale…hopefully at a higher price.

This is the milking stool.  Sorry for the awful picture.  I snapped the photo and when immediately to work not realizing the photo was almost black.  But you can see the extra large top.

Disassembly

As a true DIYer, I was not only thrilled by the spindles but also having more screws and washers for future projects.

More screws!

After removing all the screws, I grabbed the gal DIYers best friend, the vice grip.  Makes weaklings like me strong enough to remove the double ended screws.  I’ll save them for a future project too.

The milking stool has three spindle legs so I could have 3 candle holders…but…I cut one in half and now have four holders. 😀

Buffets are served when we have guests.  I can place the two tall candle holders on the buffet and the two short holders on the table.

Sanding, Painting and Distressing

The barn red spindles have a shine.  A bit of sanding removed the shine and will help the paint to stick.

I applied two coats of creamy white paint on the spindles.

Then lightly distress over the dings and chips in the wood.  Distressing is easy to do if you start with an eighty or 120 grit sandpaper.  Then follow with a 180 or higher grit to smooth all over.

Displaying the farmhouse candle holders

While I’m waiting for any guests to come for dinner, I created a simple display on our organ mantel.  Above you can see the layers.  I could easily change this for Christmas by removing the fall leaves and added silver ornaments instead.

The whole mantel.  Notice I embed a few keys into the top.

Oh…to make them “candle” holders I added chunky battery candles.  We live in a forest.  We don’t do real candles.

 

Did you notice I still have that extra large top?  Got any ideas for a DIY project using the top?  Let me know in comments below.

 

Please join me and check the talented bloggers sharing their Thrift Benefit for Sheltered Animals DIY projects.  Make sure to follow along with them on your favorite social media too.

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