Rustic Lemonade Stand

Rustic Wedding

It all started when my niece asked me to build a lemonade stand for her wedding.  The big day was planned for May 2014 at the historical Strathern Park in Simi Valley.  The park is cheaper than most wedding venues but you need to bring all your own stuff.  First I started a pinterest page to get the ideas flowing and see just what lemonade stand the bride wants.  Then asked her to comment on my pics.  A trip to Home Depot to load up on lumber, paint and supplies, and so it began.

  I cut the wood at uneven lengths along the front to give the stand a homemade look, also some boards are smooth while others are rough sawn.  This will help with the aging process.  On the back side shelves are installed so the stand can act as a bar or tattoo stand at a party or even a car show.

Burnt Umber is normally a tint used in adding color to a base paint in making a custom color.  I asked for it at my local paint store and the salesmen seem lost.  Nowadays machines tint all the colors, but back in the day a painter would have a color rack of tints and he could make the exact color for the customer on site.  Luckily there was a paint code for burnt umber.  I poured 1/3 into a solo cup and then added 2/3 water, mixed throughly. It then looks more like a watered down stain. Then comes the garden hose with an adjustable nozzle, turned to a fine spray and mist down all the wood.  The water acts like a vehicle for the paint.  If you want more runs, mist on more water. The different wood types accept the paint differently.  Using a wet rag ,follow up with dabbing and sometimes wiping off some of the excess.  This starts the old aging effect, you can even add some burnt umber to a small spritz bottle.  You could stop here but I love some different colored boards, as if the young builder had grabbed his building lumber from anything he could find.

 Blocking… grab a smooth piece of scrap wood and brush on your paint to the face of the wood / block.  Slide the block in one direction over the surface of one or more boards.  The paint on your block will stick to only the high points on the wood surface.  You might want to try it out on a piece of scrap wood first.  I believe less is better, and you can see the results…  One rustic lemonade stand ready for the wedding.