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    Home » DIY » Painted Furniture

    Painted Wooden Firkin Bucket

    By: Jane · Updated: 18 Apr, '16 · This post may contain affiliate links · 15 Comments

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    I painted a wooden firkin bucket this weekend. What? You don't know what a firkin is? Well, I didn't either until I googled it! But I have a firkin and it's been prettied up with a little paint and look at it now!

    Painted wooden firkin bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    My little bucket makes the cutest flower container that I've ever seen! 

    Wooden firkin bucketWooden Firkin Bucket

    Over a year ago, I spotted this wooden bucket at the auction that we attend all the time. It was definitely old, and you know I love old stuff so I put it in pile of goodies and paid $5 for the whole stack. It promptly went into the storage building and was pretty much forgotten until I got to rummaging around in there. You see, it's that time of year when we are working on putting on a big fundraising golf benefit party and tournament for the Civitan organization in our town. So I looked at the bucket and thought it would make a good container for a centerpiece for our party. But not looking like this, of course! 

    I'm always curious about the age and use of things so I googled some images of similar buckets to mine and that's when I discovered that it was called a firkin or sugar bucket. Thinking that the word firkin was unusual and since I had never heard the term, I looked up its etymology. The word comes from a Dutch word "vierdikkijn" which means fourth. A firkin is an old unit of measurement that was a fourth of a barrel. Eventually the word was no longer used as a unit of measurement but as a name of the bucket. These multipurpose buckets became an essential and common item in farmhouses. Often women would paint them to brighten their kitchens. The buckets were not homemade but made by coopers, or barrelmakers, who had perfected the art of making them water and bug tight. If you look at the above photo, you can see the similarity of workmanship between these buckets and barrels. 

    Painted wooden firkin or sugar bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    First, I painted the bucket white but that just wasn't suiting me so I added some lemon yellow paint to it since that is the color that we're using for our golf benefit party. The bucket was starting to look very happy and sunshiny! 

    Applying dark wax to a painted sugar bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    Wanting to "age" the bucket a bit, I applied some Annie Sloan clear and dark wax. I was just thinking that working on a small project like this is a great way to practice working with waxes if you've never used them. 

    Painted wooden sugar bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    You can see how waxing and distressing the paint changes the color and adds instant patina. We can't have an old bucket looking totally new, can we?

    Yellow wooden firkin bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    I just adore the wooden swing handle. I forgot to mention that these wooden firkin buckets had a wooden top but mine did not come with one. 

    Yellow and orange roses

    Now it just so happened that I had a dozen of the most gorgeous roses that Leo had brought home last week. Isn't he the sweetest thing? He knew that these are my favorite rose colors so he surprised me with them. 

    Roses in a yellow painted wooden firkin bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    Oh my gosh! I don't know which I love more-the yellow painted wooden bucket or the gorgeous roses! 

    Roses in a painted sugar bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    I'm in love with how the sunshiny yellow color pulls out the yellow in the roses. 

    Henry the cat smelling the roses | cottage at the crossroads

    As I was photographing the bucket, our cat Henry came over to smell the roses.

    Henry the cat smelling the roses | cottage at the crossroads

    He was admiring them, too! I think he thought the roses kinda matched him! 

    Roses in a wooden firkin bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    I had to keep snapping the photos because the combination of the yellow bucket with the beautiful roses was a match made in heaven! 

    Yellow painted wooden sugar bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    And I can imagine that the yellow bucket will accentuate any type of floral arrangement, especially colorful zinnias from the garden! For the party, I think I'm going to use daisies. What do you think?

    Roses in a yellow painted wooden bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    I'm loving this lemon color for spring and summer, but I'm thinking that the bucket would be pretty painted in just about any color.

    Yellow painted wooden firkin bucket | cottage at the crossroads

    So the moral to this story is......if you ever see an old wooden bucket, GRAB IT!!! And in the meantime, Leo found a song about a bucket that you might enjoy! 

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    1. Kathleen

      April 19, 2016 at 11:08 pm

      Well, I am old enough to know of a wooden bucket only did not recognize the name Firkin Bucket. You do realize we will all be looking for one.

      Reply
    2. Terri

      April 19, 2016 at 11:33 am

      Beautiful... that last pic that ;you posted of the bucket of roses on the table is "Magazine" worthy!!! the background is so gorgeous!!! Peaceful!!!!!!

      Reply
    3. Jo May

      April 19, 2016 at 9:25 am

      I sure do love this, yellow is such a "happy" color.

      Reply
      • Jane Windham

        April 19, 2016 at 9:49 am

        It sure is, isn't it? I was debating whether to paint it yellow or not, but I'm sure glad I did!

        Reply
    4. Linda

      April 19, 2016 at 8:58 am

      Whata find! It is so pretty wiht the roses. It's one of my favorite rose colors. Great phtos too.

      Reply
      • Jane Windham

        April 19, 2016 at 9:02 am

        I think I took over 100 photos of the bucket, Linda! I wanted to capture the beauty of the roses because they are spectacular!

        Reply
    5. Libby Wilkie

      April 19, 2016 at 8:32 am

      I especially love the first picture with Henry there! You got it all: the color and composition. Love the distressing you did too which makes it just so perfect. So, with the roses in there, do you have a small vase or bowl of some kind in the bottom? I'm going to the Liberty Antiques Fair next week and am hoping for some great finds!

      Reply
      • Jane Windham

        April 19, 2016 at 8:43 am

        Linda, thanks so much for the comment about the composition. I have been working on my photography skills lately! I do have a metal container down inside the bucket. I used an old utensil holder but a large metal can would work equally well since it has a large mouth. Hope you see some old buckets at the antiques fair!

        Reply
    6. Liz @ Infuse With Liz

      April 19, 2016 at 7:50 am

      How cute Jane! I have one in the garage that my mom found in my grandmother's garage. It has the lid and it has a lacquered finish. I've never heard that firkin term before. Those roses look beautiful in it and I love the kitty reaching out to touch them!
      I had some like that one year and I found they had a great smell- even after I dried them they still had a nice smell. Leo is a wise man!

      Reply
      • Jane Windham

        April 19, 2016 at 8:20 am

        You have a firkin, Liz! Another idea I had for using one is to fill it with rolling pins and wooden spoons in the kitchen. And yes, Leo's roses smell wonderful. Thanks for reminding me to dry them.

        Reply
    7. Kim Nichols

      April 18, 2016 at 6:38 pm

      I love it!! What a fun color!!

      Reply
      • Jane Windham

        April 19, 2016 at 8:21 am

        Thanks Kim! I was hesitant to paint it yellow but now that I have, I love it that color!

        Reply
    8. Stacey

      April 18, 2016 at 10:26 am

      Yes that does look heavenly especially Henry in the picture. I've heard the word firkin but never knew what it was. I probably would have assumed this was on old ice cream bucket. Glad to learn something new today. 🙂

      Reply
      • Jane Windham

        April 19, 2016 at 8:22 am

        I love those old wooden ice cream buckets, too! I don't currently have one but hope to remedy that soon!

        Reply

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