How To Antique Metallic Silver Painted Furniture
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In this tutorial you will learn how to antique metallic furniture paint. And there are two different metallic paint projects here. The antiquing process gives the painted furniture an aged look. Metallic furniture makes a statement and fits into any decor. The soft shine adds class to any room.
This was a fun project. I love working with metallic paint and the Caromal Colours Toner. I mean, how pretty is this piece! The highlighted details are lovely.
before makeover
This furniture style is really nice and could be used in a foyer, dining room, living room (tv stand) or just about anywhere. I can’t remember where I bought it or how much I paid for it. That’s bad isn’t it.
Glidden Gripper Primer in grey (or gray) is my all time favorite primer. They don’t make the grey Gripper anymore so I just have the hardware store tint the white Gripper to gray.
Martha Stewart Living Precious Metals Specialty Finish in Mirror and Martha Stewart Living Metallic Paint in Vintage Gold are such pretty colors. Update August 2016: They no longer make the MS Precious metals anymore. I recommend the Modern Masters line of Metallic Paints.
I used the Mirror finish metallic paint on A Pair of Nightstands and the gorgeous Small Buffet. It’s a really bright silver and in your face. I like that….but not the look I’m going for this time.
I mixed the vintage gold and the mirror colors together to get a really pale silvery tan. Or that’s what I call it. You can see where I mixed the two together in the plastic container. The end of the paint stick has the new paint mix on it and the upper color is the Mirror Silver. The Metallic Mirror has a slight lavender tint!
I guess because of the elements in the paint the paint tends to separate while painting. It’s really good to stir it occasionally during the painting process. I usually give it a stir every few minutes.
The inside of this piece was a little dirty but in great shape. I always tape off the inside when not painting it so I won’t have a lot of messy looking paint marks. I did paint the backside of the doors so they would look nice when opened.
This is how the piece looked after one coat of primer and one coat of metallic paint. When using the gray primer under the silvery colored paint I usually only need to apply one coat of metallic paint. Time and paint saver.
After one coat of Martha Stewart Metallic Paint special mix I applied Caromal Colours Toner very, very, lightly over the whole piece then went a little heavier on the detailed parts.
As you can see the toner is very dark. It’s best to brush it on and then almost immediately go over it with a damp rag to remove almost all the toner…or a dry rag to leave more of the toner on. Depends on your preference. The toner takes just a bit of time to dry so I work small areas at a time, brushing and wiping off.
Once the toner is dry it’s not going anywhere……trust me. It doesn’t need a sealer over it either unless you just want to do extra work.
I apply the toner unevenly because I think it looks more natural that way and not like it came from a big box store. Perfectly Imperfect.
See how the toner settles into the groves and small details. Adds depth and character to the furniture.
project 2
This is how the tables looked after two coats of primer and one coat of metallic paint. I was afraid the original finish would bleed since it had a lot of red in it so I applied a primer. I like to have my primer tinted gray because it works well under any paint color…..especially silver. I find I use less paint with a gray primer.
I chose Martha Stewart Precious Metals in Mirror. I was going for Silver but the sample was really dark so I went with the Mirror color.
Thanks for being here, Kathy
