Decorating an old ironing board with paint is a great way to add holiday cheer to a vintage decor. The top surface of an old ironing board provides a smooth wood canvas for art, and by leaning it against the wall on a front porch, front entryway or kitchen, it welcomes friends and family for the holidays. You can buy inexpensive old ironing boards at yard sales or auctions. This ironing board has a painted snowman on its top and can be leaned for enjoyment, but also unfolded and used as an extra buffet table for entertaining.
1
Sand the surface of the ironing board and clean with a tack cloth to prepare it for painting. Base coat the entire top surface of the ironing board with midnight blue acrylic paint and a paintbrush. Allow the paint to dry and repeat for full coverage. Do not paint the sides of the ironing board or the legs.
2
Fold the ironing board and lay it right-side up on a work surface. The bottom of your design will be the wide end. Measure up from the wide end 13 inches. Center and draw a 9-inch circle, using a compass. This will be the bottom ball of the snowman. Measure and draw a 7-inch circle on top of the 9-inch circle for the body of the snowman and a 5-inch circle on top of the 7-inch circle for the head.
3
Fill in the circles using white paint and the stencil brush. The edges will not be crisp, which will allow you to blend the circles together and make the white paint look fluffy like snow. Allow the paint to dry.
4
Stencil pink paint lightly in two circles on the face of the snowman for the cheeks. Paint the carrot nose of the snowman using the orange dimensional paint. Place the point of the paint bottle in the center of the face and draw a 1-inch vertical line. Without lifting the bottle tip, continue to zigzag vertically to the right for 2 1/2 inches with the lines close together and getting shorter until you end with a point. Dip the eraser end of a new pencil into black acrylic paint and dot two eyes above the nose and space seven dots below the nose to form a mouth. Allow the paint to dry.
5
Draw snowflakes, randomly, around the open blue space of the painted ironing board surface. Use the white paint pen and draw a plus sign. Draw an “X” over the top of the plus sign. Dip the blunt end of a wood skewer into white paint and dot each end of the snowflake lines. Allow the paint to dry. Spray the clear sealer over the painted surface of the ironing board.
6
Rip a 1-inch by 18-inch strip from a scrap of homespun fabric. Tie the strip into a bow and trim the ends. Apply a dot of craft glue at the neck of the snowman at the connection between the head and the body. Set the bow on the glue. Evenly space three dots of glue down the center of the snowman's body and set a 5/8 inch button in each dot. Allow the glue to dry.
