It's About 'time'.. Easy Clock Makeover

Charlee Hunter
by Charlee Hunter
6 Materials
1 Hour
Easy

Yes, I was bored. I had just completed a very large and involved project for a friend (which I will post later :). I had no other projects waiting in the wings for once.

I was feeling 'crafty' and remembered this clock ,that I loved, but had just simply stopped working one day. No amount of prodding or new batteries was going to make this puppy work again, but it was wood and in excellent shape.. so down in the archives it went.

Until now.

I pulled it out, tore it apart, and did this...............

I actually remembered to get a 'before' picture! (yay me)

Unfortunately, what I didn't get, were pics of the entire process.. I will try to explain the best I can, and if there are any questions feel free to ask.


Here is the clock in it's original form. Nice clock, heavy and nice construction.. but , it didn't work any longer...........so I took it apart icon

First thing I did , was unscrew the backing and remove it. Then I took off the hands and removed the clock mechanism.

The glass was not removable, so I used the clock face and cut it down to cover the glass so I didn't make it a mess while painting.

I painted the frame with country chic paint in Pink Lemonade. Why you ask? I have no idea, I like pink, this was new paint I hadn't used yet and well just because Ha!

Once it dried, I was not digging the pink.. so , I covered that with Annie Sloan Old white.

I painted over the pink with Annie Sloan Old white, and painted the backing as well.

Don't have pictures of the following steps:

  1. After the white dried on the frame, I used Annie Sloan paint in French linen to just go around the indented areas of the frame.
  2. When that dried, I sanded it back (distressed it) so that there was less grey and some of the pink and the wood peeked through in places.

Once I was happy with the distressing, I waxed it with clear wax and let that dry.

When the wax was dry, I buffed it, and cleaned up the glass.

The frame now looked like this.

Next step.. find a picture or saying that you want to paint on the glass. I printed these out. What I should have done was print the lettering reversed.. so instead I had to turn this over and outline the letters so they were in reverse. Just an extra step that I could have avoided with better planning lol.


Then I did the following steps:

  1. Taped the letters on to the OUTSIDE of the glass, and trace them on the INSIDE of the glass (which is why you need them in reverse)
  2. Remember, when painting on glass everything you want in the foreground to show, must be painted first. It's like reverse painting (where you would normally paint the back ground first and then the main item. This you will paint the main focus first then the background.
  3. I painted the H-M-E letters in black acrylic paint I had lying around. I did the Heart in a dusty rose acrylic paint.
  4. I then taped the little birds and tree where I wanted it on the outside of the glass, turned it over and did the same thing. I painted the tree and birds in black and white, and the leaves in the dusty rose, adding black or white to the rose color to add dimension to the leaves.

On to the back drop.. the backing of the clock. Anddddd I have no pictures of the next steps either! I was in the zone..............


  1. I used brown, black and grey acrylic paint to add 'wood' color around the edges. (I seriously just slapped some on until I thought it looked good enough)
  2. Once that dried, I painted white in the middle.
  3. When that dried I sanded it to look like worn painted wood.
  4. I then used a ruler and created lines with a grey fat sharpie, and then went over that with a thin black sharpie to create my faux 'Wood slat' lines. (No I did not measure LOL)
  5. This all made the backing look like old wood slats.


See the hole where the hands used to be? Well I needed that because in a clock there has to be room for the hand movement. So there is space between the glass and the backing. I had a string of 'fairy' lights (from Amazon) that I fed through the hole. these lights have a battery box. I attached that in the back with Velcro. These also happen to be remote activated icon

I just kind of moved them around to where I wanted them and reattached the backing on the frame. I did not attach the lights to anything , they are just free floating. Be careful in this step that you do not scratch the paint on the glass.


Now on to the good part!! The finished product!

I have a book stand that goes perfect with this and it wasn't being used! How great is that! I set the frame on the stand and put it in my guest bedroom as ambient or night lighting! Since the lights are on a remote it's easy to just push a button and get cool evening lighting icon

Here it is in it's new setting.

And here it is lit up!!


I loved this little quick and fun project!! icon What'cha think?

Suggested materials:
  • Old clock
  • Chalk paint in desired color
  • Sandpaper 120 grit
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