How To Create Faux Metal and Cement Finishes!

I have had two lanterns and a milk- glass vase in my stash waiting to be refinished for a few weeks. Every time I saw them in my office, I said today is the day, but it wasn’t the day.

Well, I am happy to say that the day has finally arrived! I transformed the two lanterns using an antique metal treatment and the vase using a faux cement mixture. I had inspiration pieces for both and If I say so myself came pretty close to matching them!

Without further ado let’s get to it!

This Pottery Barn lantern was my inspiration the cost $129 not in my budget.

I picked my lanterns up at Good Will for $8 a piece (definitely more budget friendly).

The first thing I did was tape around each pane of glass. I normally don’t tape but, in this case, if the paint gets under the glass, you will see it on the inside of the lantern.

Ready to start!

I used Rub ‘n Buff antique wax as my first layer.

I squeezed some out on paper so I would not contaminate the tube.

Then started applying.

First layer done now for some dimension with dark wax.

Using a sponge and Waverly Antiquing Wax I tapped it all around to create texture.

Look at all that texture!

In some areas it was too dark, so I went back and touched it up with the Rub ‘N Buff.

I used my brush to spread it out then went back over it with my sponge and dark wax.

I also mixed green and blue acrylic paint and added it to the top and edges to add even more depth.

The great thing about this technique is you can go back and tweak it without having to start all over again.

The final result!

I plan on using them outside so when the weather is warmer, I will apply Polycrylic water-based sealer to protect the finish.

Here they are side by side not an exact match but pretty darn close.

This concrete urn is my inspiration for my next transformation. The price of small urns varies but can be anywhere from $50 to hundreds of dollars if they are antiques.

I purchased this milk-glass vase at Good Will for $4.99.

To get a faux cement look I mixed together Annie Sloan Old White Chalk paint, Waverly Chalk paint in Mineral and baking soda.

I made pouncing movements on the vase to make even more texture.

It began to really look like cement.

Using my sponge to bring out the detailing with dark and white wax.

I also used some sandpaper to distress it in some areas.

The finished product!

I think I like mine better!

Do you like to use faux finishes? I would love to hear what you have done!

Don’t forget to like my post if you enjoyed it!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s