Have you guys heard about this magical product called Weather Wash Coatings?  It's seriously amazing!   If you've been following me for awhile you know I love me some barn board for shelves and projects both at home and at the lake right?  Barn board isn't always easy to find and it can be expensive which defeats the purpose of my thrifty DIYs  I had heard about Weather Wash Coatings on social media and was quite amazed and intrigued at some of the projects other DIYers had shared.

A couple of weeks ago I received some happy mail from Weather Wash Coatings that included a tin of their aging product in "Pined" and a tin of varnish to protect the wood.  It was perfect timing as we were already planning to swap out fabric valances up north with a couple of wooden window valances and we had some rough shorn pine planks from a previous project that we knew would be be perfect for this DIY.  (they have MANY stain options available, you see them all on their website)

**it's so hard to get great before/after pics with all the windows!**

There is no prep work involved you simply apply the stain with a rag or a brush, I used a brush,following the grain of the wood and it literally grabs the various depths of the grain in different ways and transforms a plain piece of raw wood before your eyes!  (I'm sharing a short time lapse video in my Instagram stories today as well so you can see it for yourself).  I stained 3 lengths of pine with one coat and each piece literally took on a different aged look.  You have to see it to believe it!  I sealed them with two coats of their varnish.  Both products are so easy to apply and clean up is a breeze since they are water based products.

As far as building the valances themselves, we had never made them before but literally just googled "wooden window valances" and used a combination of a few ideas.  We bought L brackets and wood screws, measured the windows, cut the wood with our chop saw,  attached the brackets and attached the valances to the wall.  The larger one we made into a "box" since I wanted to use the top as a shelf.  I think it turned out perfectly with our vaulted ceilings.   The second one is literally just the plank and two sides all attached with L brackets.  We purchased the L brackets at a local hardware store, next time I would look into buying them in bulk on Amazon because you guessed it, now I want to do some of these at home.  They are definitely going on our fall DIY project list!

Here is the best part of this project....one piece of the pine I aged with Weather Wash pulled both gray and brown tones and literally looks like the head of a loon soaring across the lake.  Can you guys see it?  It's BEAUTIFUL and ties in perfectly with our up north rustic decor!

Weather Wash is not YET available in stores in Canada but can be ordered through their website and in store at Home Depot in the US (and a few other US stores, you can find out where on their website).  If you are doing a little cross border shopping I would highly recommend picking some up for your next project!

Two thumbs up from Our Uncluttered House!

Michele xo