I asked my dad for an old rake from our farm eons before Pinterest! I SWEAR! lol! But...being the procrastinator I am it sat in my garage with a 1/2 broken handle for a few good years! Collecting dust, gathering cobwebs...until. I decided I wanted it done and I wanted it done now! One thing I have noticed with the Pinterest picture that floats around of this bad boy is there is no "how to". Its just a "look what I did" picture and you sit stumped staring at your rake and looking back at your picture thinking how in the world is mine EVER going to look like that?!

Was this project easy? Ummm...no! Not gonna lie to you it did in fact take some elbow grease and a husband to jump in and save my aching hands! Was it worth it? You tell me! I know I'm in love with it! My bathroom walls are turquoise and the entire bathroom is very rustic I adore it!


The first thing you need to do is find an old rake! If you are not from a farm like myself then you can go to an old restoration shop that sells old doors and windows and you'll usually luck out and find one there! Now I was lazy (I'm pregnant...what can I say!) and didn't take the before/during pictures BUT picture this rake with a knobby broken wooden handle that has a metal band wrapped to keep the wood and the rake together. This is going to be your problem area (see one of the reasons I didn't photograph there was no way its a two hand job!) You are going to take wire cutter...yep good ol' jewelry style pinch it apart wire cutters and start nipping away at the metal in a straight line. I then used pliers and pulled the band back so I could keep getting further down. Now if you have a metal cutter at home...use that and then this project is SUPER simple! You are going to pry and get that puppy (metal band) off! I got half way through and let my husband take over! After all my delicate hands hurt (bwaaahahaha!) He said the wood was fairly simple to knock out with the hammer once the band was completely cut!


Next, I filled one side of my sink with HOT water and a lot of bleach! Someone on Instagram asked me why I was doing that...good question (I was going to post the picture but forgot to send it to myself and now it won't let me! BUT I am britchesnboots on Instagram if you would like to check it out!) I like my stuff clean! I KNOW this rake was used on gross stuff...I mean get real. Its a farm! SO, hot water and bleach does the trick plus its not only killing the germs but its helping to lift and remove some of the rust! I let it soak for a good hour before I removed it and dried with a few paper towels. I then set outside for a few days to dry completely.