Transform Old Frames/Furniture with Spray Paint and Gold Leaf {DIY}…

 

A few weeks ago, I was in the Neiman Marcus in Las Vegas and fell in love with some gorgeous frames that {of course} were crazy expensive.  The teeny tiny frames started at $90.00! Yikes!!

What was so incredible about the frames is they had this amazing layered metallic/taupe-ish finish mixed with a white wash/cement-y look with small areas around the frame with touches of gilded/gold leaf.  I have never seen a finish like this before and I couldn’t wait to get back home to see if I could figure out how to recreate it.

My goal was to see if I could come up with the technique on old frames, so I could ultimately do it on an old dresser or side chair for my vanity.

 

 

As I looked at the frame finish at Neiman’s, it looked like a chalky white base color with a platinum metallic subtle wash or glaze.  The color of the metallic reminded me so much of the platinum metallic color from Krylon Brushed Meatallic Champagne Nouveau:

 

 

There is no other metallic paint in a can, jar or wax out there that is even remotely close to the highlights in this gorgeous metallic finish. I do not like this color solid and by itself but I love to mix it with other colors or use it as a glaze. I like to spray one color and then ever so light spray the champagne for a hint of metallic.  It’s really like a platinum; not too gold and not too silver.

So, I decided my plan was to use the spray paint like a glaze over a chalky white spray painted primer to see if I could get in the ball park of duplicating the finish.

I started off with some old small frames:

 

 

I went ahead and spray primed all of the frames first with Valspar spray primer in white.  Keep in mind, for using spray paint as a glaze, the base color is the key:

 

 

After the primer was almost dry (about 30 minutes), I sprayed a very thin layer of the Krylon Champagne Nouveau trying not to cover the whole piece so I could see some white and then immediately wiped the paint with my finger.  You can use a rubber glove but I didn’t because the only thing that doesn’t leave brush marks or wipe marks is my finger.

 

 

I wanted a lot of the white of the primer to come through, so I wiped a lot down to the primer and because the primer was still soft in some areas, the white mixed with the metallic and I even got some areas down to the wood.  Sometimes I will spray the paint in a cup and wipe the spray paint on as a glaze as well.

 

 

With some of the frames, I sprayed the paint in to a plastic container and dipped my finger in and wiped over the primer as well for more control of the finish:

 

 

I then let the frames completely dry overnight and lightly roughed them up in corners with fine 220 sand paper:

 

 

The next morning after the frames were dry and I roughed them up, I was so excited that I nailed the finish on my first try!! Yay!! {Crafty happy dance}…

{I know this frame is already gold leafed but it’s the best shot for you to see the finish}

 

Look at that finish!!  Again, I’m not sure what I would call it but this is exactly what I hoped to get!

So next, I added the gold leaf to add areas of gilding.  Keep in mind that the same technique that I am going through for the frames would work for large pieces of furniture.  Working with gold leaf is so easy and the end results are incredible.  All you need is this little started kit from Mona Lisa/Speed Ball that you can pick up at craft stores or for $10.00 on Amazon here:

 

I just took a water color brush and brushed on a generous amount of the adhesive and waited for it to dry (about 20-30 minutes).  Gold leaf will not work if the adhesive is wet even in the least.  It will work best to wait until it is dry but tacky.

Then, with a tweezers, I just covered the areas with the adhesive with just the right amount of the gold leaf sheet that came in the package (I cut it so I would not waste any of it):

 

I then took another stiffer brush (not too stiff though) and lightly used the bristles to push the gold leaf down into the carved wood and then I lightly pressed down on all the areas of the gold leaf to make sure that it stuck:

 

I like to wait another 20 minutes at this point and then I used my water color brush to brush away the gold leaf where it shouldn’t stick. I just keep gently brushing and eventually, there should only be gold leaf on the areas where I brushed on the adhesive:

 

 

Adding gold leaf is so easy and once it’s on, it’s very durable and it’s just like paint.  The kit contains a sealer that I would use if I was doing this on furniture.  I am so excited that I was able to duplicate almost the exact finish that I saw in Las Vegas and I can’t wait to try this on an old piece of furniture now!  Who would have thought? Spray paint?  I continue to be amazed with all the unique ways we can use spray paint!

Thanks for hanging out with me today and I’ll be back for Friday Favorites!

Cheers!

Cyndy

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