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You can see a another post showing an antiqued white finish
The pictures in this post are from a few years ago.
I'll update the post, pictures and tutorial soon.
The technique is simple, and mostly the same
but I don't use burnt sienna in my glaze
very often and more.
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I love paint. One of my earliest memories is being 4 years old in kindergarten and painting at an easel. Paint and fairy tales, the perfect combo for a very young artist-to-be. Although I began art with paper, canvas, paints, etc., the usual things, furniture and wood soon followed.
(The final tips and how-to is at the end of the post. )
One thing I've been asked over the years is tips on painting things white for that aged, cottage, shabby chic look. It's actually very easy even though you see it done poorly sometimes. That is only because it takes a little bit of practice to control it so that it looks like it happened over time, on its own. Just don't give up if it isn't what you think is perfect right away. We all start out learning how to make it work.
Sometimes you want the glazing/antiquing to be very light, and then sometimes heavier. You might even want some parts the same piece to have more glaze than other parts.
This picture is of the canopy over the kitchen sink. Sweet Hubby built it for me. Like our other projects, I drew out what I wanted, shopped for the wood, plaster elements and moldings, and he did the carpentry work for me. Then I painted it.
The close-up lets you see that the canopy was painted with a few different techniques. I used a cotton t-shirt, brushes, my fingers, very small artists' brushes, sponge brushes, and most likely the kitchen sink for water.
This part is all wood, except for the grapes. I used a stencil to make an embossed/raised grapes pattern, then after it was dry, I used air dry clay to make each of the grapes so they could be more rounded and dimensional.
I love the look of antiqued rope molding. It's a lot of work to get it just right, but worth it. You go back and forth with the glaze and white paint, dry brushing until you like it.
At first you paint it all white, then take a small brush and paint around each of the rope sections. Sometimes I glaze go over the whole thing, letting the glaze settle in the cracks. You then wipe it off the top areas, before it dries, with a damp cotton cloth. When it is totally dry go back over just the highest areas with this dry brush technique. Load your brush or sponge brush lightly with white, brush it on a paper towel or piece of cloth to remove most of the paint, then go over the top sections of the molding or painted piece you want to highlight.
Sometimes you might find something that is already white that like the shape or price. Not old at all, but quite new. These usually look kind of cheap and often aren't real wood. This wall unit was built by starting with 2 storage pieces from Target. They had glass doors and drawers, and it was just so much easier to use them than to find something old.
This time I used a "lighter hand" with the antique glazing to give just a touch of age. This is excellent for doing a glaze on white cabinets in kitchens or bathrooms, and of course furniture like end tables, etc. You probably don't want a heavy glaze on those. Just a light touch, like you would see on good cabinets that you would purchase already glazed.
I used only a small artist brush with a combination of raw umber and a touch of burnt sienna for the glaze. Lowe's has some nice glazes that are already mixed. You can also find small bottles at the craft store if you don't want to try to mix your own. Glaze is usually 3 parts glaze (or you can try just water) to 1 part paint if you are mixing your own. Glaze dries more slowly, but water will also work.
http://thedecoratedhouse.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-antique-white-cottage-vintage.htmlHere you can see that the furniture pieces were left the white, and then I took a small artist's brush and painted my glaze along the lines and crevices that would have accumulated dust and wear over the years if it had been old. You can't draw a straight line??? Neither can I. Keep a damp cloth with you, after you paint the glaze on, take the cloth around you index finger, keep it at an angle towards you (in this picture you would be pointing your finger towards the right with you on the left side) and wipe off the excess. It gives you a pretty even line.
The top areas, rope molding and corbels have a slightly heavier glaze application.
It really is so easy after you tackle a couple of projects, you'll be an expert!
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Click on any of the pictures below to shop art from The Decorated House
Although there weren't any, a shop name came up, Sweet Peas. After a bit more searching I found an address and we went looking for it. The location was a little ways from where we usually go shopping but we found it. Isn't the shop wonderful? I found her blog and recognized the work of Sadi Olive on it. Small blog world.
