Monday, June 6, 2011

Faux finish lessons - Antique a piece of furniture

Learn to antique a piece of furniture.  While on my last trip to Lancaster, I purchased this great sign but I did not have anything to put under it that seemed to look right.   So I decided to get creative and use some faux finish techniques I teach to others.  See (below) the table, box and watering can I antiqued for my front porch.  All were previously painted white and soooo boring.  Now I am totally happy with how they came out.  Read below to learn how to do this easy faux finish. 


Summer is almost here and the weather is cooperating with us so why not get outside and teach yourself to faux finish a piece of furniture?  I have some quick and easy ideas for you to use. 

Materials:
Piece of furniture or small piece painting satin or gloss white or beige color.
Oil based stain (I used Minwax oil stain in a dark color)
Paintbrush
Clean rags(preferably old tee shirt or towel, not paper towels)
Acrylic craft paints in two or three colors you want to be on your piece
Foam brush(disposable)

Step one:
Using the foam brush(or a paintbrush) lightly dry brush some color on your piece.  I put blue and green and beige on my table top and sides.)  This is just to distress the piece a little.  Let dry.



Step two:
(Now this is the scary part, but don't be scared, it will come out beautiful!)  Using a larger brush, lightly paint oil based stain right on top of your table (or whatever piece you are doing.)  Your piece will look dark right now.  


 Step three: Using the cotton rags, lightly wipe off the stain leaving some on and smearing it across the sides and top of your piece.  Now your whole piece will have an aged appearance.  Let dry well.  This will take at least overnight. 
Optional:  If you would like, now you can seal it with a clear satin varnish.  Minwax makes a really nice one you can use.  Be sure to apply it with a paintbrush, NOT a foam brush or you will have bubbles.  Let dry well and you have a beautiful finished piece that looks ages old!  Enjoy.   



 Please send us your photos of your antiques pieces that you have done and we will try to feature them on our blog!  Please be sure to leave a comment on the blog so we can see how you did!  Happy faux painting!  Clare and Valerie

3 comments:

gin said...

Wow! I love what you did. I recently bought an old dresser and I could do something like this to spruce it up but still give it that antique look.

Valerie said...

Thank you, Gin! Stay tuned for a how-to on metallic finishes coming up soon! Would LOVE to see a picture of what you did.
Blessings...Valerie

Amy @ TheMombot.com said...

Thanks for the how-to! I've been trying to figure out how to do this and make it look realistic for a while now. I found you via the blog hop and now I'm a follower!
Amy @ www.themombot.com

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