Rustic Bar Decor on a Budget!

Hello! I was at a friend of mine’s house and she had these fun mason jars on her bar with fresh mint, sage, cucumbers, etc for cocktails and I thought it would be cute to make a DIY wood box to put them in to go with her rustic bar decor. This was a fun and easy project and I love how it came out!

Materials Needed for DIY Rustic Bar Decor box:

wood – I used old fence wood
miter saw
orbital sander
wood glue
vinyl
mod podge
vaseline
Cricut – Check out my Ultimate guide to Cricut Ideas here!

All I used to make this box was a piece of old fence wood. I cut them all the length I wanted them and then glued and nailed the ends together. Click here for DIY wood box tutorial!

After it was dry I used my orbital sander to sand all the sides. I liked the color so I didn’t need to stain it but if you wanted to, this is the time to do it. For the wording, I cut out vinyl with my favorite tool, my Cricut Explore! I applied the vinyl to the top of the box with transfer tape and added a thin layer of mod podge over it so the paint wouldn’t bleed.

My new favorite for distressing is vaseline! I just use a paint brush and brush the vaseline on wherever I want it distressed, so on all the edges, corners, and a little on the front.

Then I spray painted the whole box with Rust-Oleum Sage Green. I let it dry about an hour and painted another coat. I removed the vinyl with a weeding tool before the paint was dry so that it doesn’t pull paint with it.

After it fully dried, I used a sanding block and sanded around all the edges where the vaseline is. The paint doesn’t stick to the vaseline so it comes right off! Sometimes I use a cloth to wipe off the paint and it works just as well. I sprayed a sealer on it and attached some hardware to the ends and that’s it! Easy Peasy!

I also added a few mason jars with chalkboard tags attached with twine to finish it off. Now I need to make one for myself as a centerpiece for our table. You can put anything in the mason jars and rotate real or artificial flowers depending on the season! Click here for how to decorate with a box year round!