A Christmas Sled Upcycle

It's early November, and I've already told my friends not to be judgy.  I'm in Christmas mode.  One cannot do all of the crafting and all of the baking and all of the decorating in four weeks.  I waited until Halloween was over, even if I did listen to Christmas music the entire week of.

Now I'm ready to craft.  What better project to kick off the season than a free one!  (I have all the supplies on hand from other projects.)

My husband's parents separated two years ago this month, and his mother passed this little wooden sled on to us.  It has lived in a corner of my laundry/storage room since then because it's just not my style.  It's just too... circa 1995.  The only thing I like as-is is the twine.

Last year, I admired Christmas trees with large non-ornament items used to tie together a theme, but I couldn't come up with anything to put in my tree.  It just occurred to me that it's my sled now, and I'd rather change it to fit my decorating style than just hide it away or end up donating it.

First, I removed the twine and sanded all but the back, which is still unfinished.  I needed to degloss the surface of the sled so the paint wouldn't chip.  Next, I sprayed the red runners and the name part in an espresso brown I had leftover from redoing a vintage step stool/seat.

After drying for a day, I went over the entire sled with a coat of white spray paint.

While it was still tacky, I scraped the edges with a sharp putty knife to bring out the brown, and even a tiny bit of the red on one edge of the runner.  I retied the twine, and now it's ready to make an appearance on my Christmas tree!

Here's a closer view of the distressing...

Not my biggest "WOW" project, but definitely ranked among the cheapest and fastest!  The perfect project to kick off my favorite season!