I am in my horse era right now and love everything horse! So if you are in your horse era as well and would like a cute horse statue without breaking the bank, I have a tutorial for How to Turn a Horse Toy into a Horse Statue.
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I am loving horses right now. Not real ones though. They are too big and scary. Just the statues and photos and everything else. It's the perfect time to be into horses because it's also Kentucky Derby season. I have a few antique horse items, which I'll be showing in a blog post on Friday. But I love to mix in new/crafted with antiques.
While thrifting, toy horses are pretty plentiful. So I figured out how to turn a toy horse into a horse that looks like a fancy statue.
How to Make a Horse Statue from a Toy
I found this cute little horse at the thrift store for pennies. It's super cute, but doesn't exactly seem realistic or the kind of horse one would display in their house.
I painted the entire horse with sand colored chalk paint. This is why I love using chalk paint so much. It goes on everything and makes everything look good! Find a similar paint here.
I didn't do anything to prep the horse, I just painted on 2 coats of chalk paint with a paint brush letting the paint dry in between each coat. Covering the horse made such a difference. It already looks so much better.
Once the paint was dry, I brushed on gold colored rub and buff to give it even more dimension. With rub and buff, a little bit goes a long way. You can also wipe it on with your finger.
I let the horse dry over night and it was go to go to decorate with! It looks so good with the rub and buff - it made all the difference in making the toy look like a statue.
I found another horse and did the same treatment. They both look so good being painted and then accented with rub and buff.
I put my gold painted state in a little grouping with a vintage horse toy. I am happy with the way they look together.
Maybe next time you go to the thrift store this will give you inspiration for how you can paint a piece to give it a whole new life. You can Paint a Horse Toy to make it look like a Statue.