Scroll the center bar from side to side to see a before/after view of this restoration project:
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When Jess sent me a picture of her latest vintage find and asked if I might be able to restore this old rustic rocking horse, I knew I would enjoy giving it a new lease of life!
BEFORE: Vintage Rocking Horse ready for restoration rescue!
I’m not sure what era it is from, but there are traces left of varnish in small patches and most of the wood is looking very dry and weather beaten.
And look at his tail!! Not much left of that is there?
Jess wanted it painted white to fit in with her decor colour scheme, so I went with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint – Ironstone, the whitest in the MMSMP range.
Next, I grabbed my Sandi Hands sanding gloves and gave Rocky (his new nickname) a good rub down using a 120 grit.
First coat of Ironstone (MMSMP) going down and Rocky is looking pretty happy about it:
I went to my awesome Facebook followers for ideas on how to create a great tail for Rocky, and they did not disappoint. I had a couple of suggestions to buy a wig from a second hand store, so I nipped down to our local Salvos and found the perfect wig …
Now to call in the “Big Wigs” – my mum is good at all things crafty, so with her help we managed to create a tail. We may have more strands of hair on the floor than a hair salon, but we have ourselves a tail people!
My Mum: the Horse Tail Whisperer
I used Rocky’s old ears as a template to create new ones from a strip of leather look vinyl that I bought from Spotlight (our local fabric store).
I painted Rocky’s face back on with Fusion Mineral Paint (coal black for the mane & eyes, Fort York Red for the mouth), and now he can see what’s going on in the world!
I also painted the existing vinyl saddle in Fusion Coal Black and it came up nicely, tying in with the rest of the look.
Coming up soon on the blog … see what I did to transform this piano that my client wanted painted to lighten up her living room. If you haven’t subscribed to our blog, you can do that on the side bar here on our website, so you don’t miss out on more inspirational makeovers, news about our products and tips & tutorials.