Americana Primitive Kerosene Heater

I first started with a very old & rusty kerosene heater. It's pretty rough and needed a major makeover before I wanted to display it in my Booth #555 at the Peddlers Mall. Here it is on the day I bought it at a yard sale for only $10.00.

But if I was gonna keep it for myself, a quick clean up and some lights would be all it would need, lol. So to get it ready for sale, here's what I done.


I first tried to make it a more primitive themed by adding some reds,whites and blues. But I got sidetracked and forgot to paint the top part white...... UGH! But I'll get back to that.....

And then, Still not realizing I hadn't painted the white part, I went on to add some stenciled stars......

And it was finally then, when I stood back and looked at it, I realized I had somehow skipped painting the white part..... WEW! That is way too much BLUE! And so I set back off to do so, painting over the blue.... ugh! Sometimes, I think I've smelled too much craft paint. lol.

And so here's a pic after the first coat of off white (FINALLY) to the top. lol. A long time coming...

Okay, I was happy that it's finally starting to come together.... And that I got some white on there. Oh, I really mixed some off white with some brown I had to kind of make an antiquey older white. I just tend to say white when I'm writing. Same goes with the blues and reds. They are really a navy and a colonial red.

And now for the more detailed painting with the smaller brush and stencils. I thought since it's a red white and blue theme with stars, that adding 1776 to it would kind of add a cute touch. So here's what I came up with.

I decided to add a weeping willow tree to the front. And if you look close, you can see some sheep grazing under it. I just free handed these, but if you don't feel comfortable doing so, I'm sure there are plenty of stencils available on eBay.

And here's another shot of it all lit up. Oh, let me tell you how I made it electric... SUPER EASY! I just looked out in my garage for a holiday prop, like the plastic pumpkins or plastic santas, until I found a pumpkin that had the plug in type. It was just a basic light bulb on the end of a cord. And it had little clips on it. It slid right out of the pumpkin with a pinch! And I just inserted it into this heater by opening up the top. That's it. The cord comes out the side like this:

And here it is all lite up:

To get the better looking finish, I applied one coat of all purpose sealer, found in the craft section of paints. One coat was plenty for me. And it gave it the better, medium gloss finish. I like it way better than the flat. And that's it.

Here's the before and after pics one more time:

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DIY PRIMITIVE TIME OUT CHAIR

PRIMITIVE TIME OUT CHAIR

This chair was originally bright blue with rabbits and black/white checker pattern all on it. It was shew, ugly to say the least.

This color. This isn't the chair, but I bought a few things that day that were all the same theme.

I decided to make it into a “time out” children’s chair. Since it is just the right size. I once saw one of the “time out” chairs at a flea market in South Carolina and I loved the theme.

I don’t have kids however, so I don’t feel guilty to make one. lol.

I don't hardly ever find anything that I believe would look right with a willow tree on, but I decided to give this a shot, since the back is so high.

I just free handed one. But I'm sure there are tons of stencils on eBay if you don't want to try it.

And then while that dried, I used a large star stencil I had, and some Delta stencil paint and made the seat bottom design:

I also used a makeup sponge with some of the same color as the star, to rub on the edges of the chair. I think it gives it a little bit of a worn look and not so freshly painted.


I’m not loving this, but I do think it looks cute.

Since it's large and I don't want to ship from my online store, It’s being put up for sale in my Peddlers Mall booth.

For Sale in my BOOTH#555

Price: $24.99 Sold

Thank You!