Ridiculously Easy {DIY} Aged Finishes

Anything can look better with a coat of paint and a little bit of elbow grease. In fact, when you are out thrifting, try to look at the shape or form of the piece you are looking at and not the color or the finish. If the shape of it is awesome, maybe all it needs is a little freshen up with a little bit of paint! 

(Disclaimer: Pardon my Pictures... they were taken a while back before I really cared about photography)

I wanted to show you a little trick that I use to create an aged finish. I will show you how I created the aged silver finish on the frames in the picture above, for my client's dining room, and how I gave a plain terra-cotta pot in the picture below a schnazzy new look!

To do the frames, I found a bunch of random mis-matched frames for a great deal at Ross and Marshall's. 

I spray painted them with a rad silver paint, like the one below...

Find a really junky part of your yard (that you haven't bothered to rake)... and spray there.

Mix a little bit of black paint with a drizzle of water and mix... I enjoy mixing up a cocktail while I am mixing this solution. 

Grab an old rag or paper towel, dip in the paint mixture (not your cocktail) and wipe the frames with it. After a few seconds wipe frame again with a paint-free dry rag or paper towel.

The black paint will stay in the crevices and will give the silver an aged look.

Like so...

You can finish it off with a coat of polyurethane....

...and get to hanging! 

To give my dippy-looking, little pot a make-over, I painted it with white spray paint (in the same messy part of the yard).

Then rubbed the same watered down black paint on the pot. The paint will absorb quickly on the pot so you may want to water it down even more. 

Next, I created a watered down metallic solution and rubbed it gently on the pot over the black antiqued finish. 

Here it is in its final state!

What are you planning on making over???`