Sometimes you buy something for a project and immediately know what you want to make with it. Sometimes you buy something knowing you’ll make something with it but sit on it for a couple of years until you decide. And sometimes, as was the case with this project, you buy something knowing what you’re going to make it into but still sit on it for a couple of years because you’re busy.
I purchased this vintage sled from a yard sale in the spring of 2023 (and it’s now fall of 2024). I had actually been looking for one for a while because I had saved some inspiration pictures to Pinterest of painting vintage sleds for winter and holiday decor. However, they tend to be fairly expensive at antique stores (depending on the condition) and I didn’t want this to be an expensive project. So when I saw this one at a yard sale for only $10, I immediately bought it. The wood is dry rotted and not attached to the metal in places, and the ropes are definitely not usable, so I was comfortable buying this knowing that I was going to alter it from its original purpose. I try not to buy things to repurpose that are in good enough condition to use for their original intent as someone else may want it for that purpose. For example, some of the vintage sleds I saw at antique stores had been well kept enough that they could still be used as sleds which is why I passed on them.
So I brought the sled home with the intention of redoing it for the 2023 Christmas season. However, I got busy and it sat in my attic until November of 2024 when I made the time to redo it so I could decorate with it this year.
The first order of business was to clean off the dust and grime. A simple wet washcloth did the trick. I also scraped off the remainder of the sticker that was on the wood so it wouldn’t interfere with the paint.
My plan was to leave it fairly rustic so I left the metal alone, other than wiping the dust off. Once the wood was dry I painted a coat of white paint on the main body of the sled. I didn’t know if I wanted to leave some of the wood unpainted to add to the rustic look, but after the first coat dried I realized it would look better with all of the wood painted. So for the second coat I painted all of the wood and was much happier with the result.
Two coats was enough coverage so I started on the letters. I originally intended to have a Christmas-y saying on it, but I settled on “Let It Snow” so that way I could leave it up as decoration all winter if I want to.
I have this buffalo plaid heat transfer vinyl that I used for another project a few years ago. And while I still have my Silhouette machine and could cut out the letters with that, I remembered that this vinyl was a pain to use on that machine. I opted for printing out the letters, tracing them onto the vinyl, and manually cutting them.
After that I placed them on the sled where I wanted them, painted Mod Podge onto the backs, and then positioned them again onto the sled.
While I let the Mod Podge dry the rest of that evening and night, I painted these wooden trees. These trees are something I picked up at an antique store a few years ago and hadn’t found the right project for until now. I painted them a dark green (I ended up doing two coats) and then added some white to the edges to look like snow. I adhered them to the bottom of the sled with E6000 and left them overnight with books on top of them for weight so that they would firmly attach.
The next day I added the finishing touches. First I painted some free-handed snowflakes using inspiration I found on Pinterest. (I’m not the best at free-handing so some of my proportions are off but that’s part of the charm of DIY.) I used Glacier Pearl paint from Home Depot that I had leftover as that subtly showed up on top of the white on the sled without being too vibrant. I then painted over each snowflake with the Folk Art dragonfly glaze color shift paint to give the snowflakes a shimmer
reminiscent of the sun shining on snow. (The same paint that I used in the Halloween house project.)
And finally it was time to attach the bow. I bought this ribbon back in 2023 with the intent of using it for this project and it matches perfectly with the trees that I decided to put on the bottom! I admit that I am not adept at bow decorations, so all I did was make a few loops for the top and three straight pieces for the bottom. I pinned and sewed those together and then cut out a smaller circle that I glued to the middle of the front to hide the stitching. (I’m absolutely certain that there are better tutorials out there for bows, but this method worked for my purposes.) I glued the bow to the metal part of the sled with E6000 and let it sit for a few hours. Once dry, the sled was complete!
I am very thrilled with how the sled turned out! While I initially planned to put it outside by my front door, I realized that it wouldn’t hold up very well in the elements so I chose to decorate with it indoors. And when putting up my Christmas decorations, I found these old Christmas light phone chargers that I kept to decorate with because even though they will no longer charge a phone, the lights do still work. I was able to wrap them around the sides of the sled which made it look very festive!
And to my surprise, the day after I finished it, it snowed (it melted by noon but I was able to get a cool picture)!
I hope this inspires you to repurpose an old sled. There are definitely plenty existing that need good homes and they really make great decorations for the winter season!
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