Lazy Susan Milk Cap Makeover

Hello everyone!  My name is Angie and I blog at Knick of Time, and I’m excited to share my first post as a contributor at My Repurposed Life and want to thank Gail for inviting me!

Thrift stores and yard sales always have lots of wooden things, like shelves and spice racks that have outdated looks, that can be easily and inexpensively updated.  I picked up an old lazy Susan for just a few bucks that was dinged up and really just needed a fresh coat of paint, but I wanted to give it some vintage character as well.

It’s an easy project, and the process can be used on lots of other pieces you’ll find while going to garage sales this summer.  Here’s how:

1.  Select an image that you’d like to use.

I wanted to add a graphic to it, and an antique milk cap image was the perfect choice to fit the shape of the lazy Susan.  My farmhouse kitchen has a green antique stove in it, so I wanted to pull green in as an accent on the lazy Susan.  I have 3 milk cap images with green on them (printables here), and picked the Rose Hill Dairy one for this project.

2.  Determine the size you need your image to be.

I needed my milk cap image to be about 17″ in diameter so a regular size sheet of paper wouldn’t be big enough,  so I enlarged it to print on multiple pages at blockposters.com, which is a free resource.  The number of pages you select for your image to print on determines how large the overall image will be.  I selected 4 pages to get the size I needed, which was about 17″ in diameter.  Here are the 4 sections once I cut them out.

3.  Tape sections together (on the front), and rub the back side with chalk.

I used colored sidewalk chalk.

4.  Position the image on your piece, and use painter’s tape to hold it in place.

5.  Use a ball point pen or stylus to trace around each letter.

This will transfer the chalk onto your piece and give you outlines to paint.

6.  Select appropriate size brushes and begin painting the letters.

In my original milk cap image, the “Rose Hill Dairy” part was green, but I was daydreaming while painting, and forgot to switch colors, so mine are painted red, but in the end I liked it better that way.

Here is the painted image all finished.

7.  If desired, lightly sand the finished design, and seal with wax, or a non-yellowing sealer.

I’m totally thrilled with how it turned out.  It makes a great conversation piece, is useful, and is a beautiful way to display a little milk cap history.

I hope you’ll drop in and visit me at Knick of Time, where I share my farmhouse home remodel, DIY projects, and free printable antique graphics!

see more Image Transfer Projects here