Wood Treatments

Townshend has a fascination with chewing shoes. Not sure what the draw is really, but he won't be dissuaded. So, we started keeping the shoes in a couple wooden crates by the door. It works marginally well, but the untreated, blond wood really didn't go with the rest of the living room. So, I decided to give it a bit of color.

Some time ago, I played around with weathering wood (making new stuff look old) for a bit of fence to use with my shop and it was a great success! So, I decided to do the same thing with these crates. That old tutorial was no longer available, but a Google search pulled up this one and we were good to go.

I used apple cider vinegar (instead of white vinegar) this time around because it's what I had on hand. I think that it added a little bit of redness to the color, but I like it all the same! Last time, I left the steel wool in the vinegar for a couple days before applying it and I think the color is darker for it. This time I only waited 24hrs, but if I do this again, I'll wait longer to let it darken. But, all in all, I am quite pleased with how they look!

Though, the added color has not done much in increasing the effectiveness of the boxes in keeping the shoes from being chewed on....