Singing Honey Bee: Antique Technique DIY

Wow has our summer not slowed down yet. With working outside the home, a slew of local and etsy store orders, a home school conference and VBS this week I just simply have had no time to write. I have a list of what I want to write about, but with a packed schedule something had to go. It is hard to believe it has been almost two weeks since my last post. But I am back and have lots to share with you this summer. So thank you for stopping by again!
In my last post I shared about my great deal on curtains. Today I will share how I coordinate the hardware in our dining room with a DIY on antique technique. As a kid and even young adult I spent a lot of time in my grandma Lois' ceramic shop. It started with little Christmas ornaments I would paint as 5 years old--I grew up with it. I even made all the bridal shower favors, wedding thank you gifts and candle centerpieces for my wedding from my grandma's shop. It was a fun way to spend time with her, be creative, and learn a great deal about technique. One of them is how to antique something. Which now carry's over into our home decorating.

DIY antique; it is easy. I promise! The first thing is to start with something that has a base coat. The curtain rod ends already were a finished wood. The ceiling medallion (I will show at the end) was white and I painted it brown.

The ones in the picture I started back when I first got my ruined curtains and never finished them. Probably because it was close to Thanksgiving and I ran out of time to finish. But on this project I have 3 colors to antique so I will be able to show you how with the next 2 coats. What you see is the original wood rod ends that have the first color (black) antiqued on them.

Once you have an established base coat you will then decide on your antique colors. For this project I have three because I want it to match the other hardware in our dining room.I used a simple acrilic paint that any craft store will have.You need a paint brush, rag, and small recycled dish or cup.

Take your paint and add a few squirts into the container. Then add a little water at a time and mix it together. This is called thinning your paint.

Then brush your thinned paint all over your piece.

Then immediately and gently wipe off the excess paint with your clean rag. If you wipe off too much just paint it again. If you need more to come off, then dampen your rag and keep working at it.Once you have finished, let it dry. I used a foam block so these could dry upright.

Now if you only have one coat then once it is dry, coat with clear coat spray paint and you are done.
But if you have a 2nd or 3rd coat, like this project then I will repeat the process again.
My third and final coat will be gold. Same steps as before. Thin down my paint with water. Brush gold over entire piece, and gently wipe away the excess (but leaving a bit more in the cracks and crevices). Then let it dry before spraying a little clear coat on it.

The picture doesn't do it justice. It looks really nice in real life.

Here is the project that I did that inspired me to the the curtain rods ends. Sorry that I don't have pictures of the process (this was before the blog). My husband found this white medallion at Home Depot. He then, knowing my painting abilities ask if I could make it match the light we were putting up. Challenge excepted! I painted the entire thing brown and then antiqued it black, gold and silver. Then sprayed some clear coat on it.