Column Pedestal: Ruins Revival Style

by Handan & Greg @ The Navage Patch

Easy

A throw-away gray column pedestal scavenged from the dump gets transformed into a beautiful ancient marble column look-alike.

column pedestal ruins revival style, chalk paint, home decor, painted furniture

Winter is carrying on full force, and we have another foot of snow in our backyard. But I am totally ok with it, because the darling Groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, implied it won't be long before Spring arrives. This is one of the many reasons I love America: it is full of opportunity! Seriously, where else on earth could a groundhog, even for a day, get the opportunity to become a weatherman? I think that is awesome!

Speaking of awesome, here is what I found at Put & Take last weekend: an outdoor column pedestal!

While the pedestal wasn't perfect, it was still a great find, because it reminded me of my home town, Izmir, Turkey. We have many ancient ruins in the Izmir Province, but the best of all (and my favorite) are the Ephesus Ruins.Here is the Wikipedia link if you want to learn more about the Ephesus Ruins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus

Back to the project... As I was feeling nostalgic for my home country, I wanted to make this column look like one you might find in Ephesus. With that plan, I started prepping to paint.

The column had some tiny holes all over it, so I filled them with a paintable filler. Once the holes were filled, I gave the column 3 coats of paint with my homemade chalk paint in Annie Sloan Old White color. My homemade chalk paint recipe can be found on our blog..

Once the paint dried, it was time to apply antiquing wax to achieve that aged white marble look. I started working in sections by brushing the antiquing wax on and wiping it off before it fully dried. There were sections where I waited too long to wipe off the wax, but no need to panic when that happens! The beauty of the wax I am using is that you can still wipe it off by applying clear wax over it.

After applying the antiquing wax, I achieved the look I was after. It looked like an ancient column from Ephesus, but I felt there was something missing. It needed a little bling, so I decided to stencil the corners of the pedestal.

Once I chose complimentary patterns for the top and bottom corners, I cut the stencils with my Silhouette Cameo...

and placed them on the pedestal's corners. (aff link)

Using metallic wax, I stenciled each corner. You can find the details of this process on our blog.

Here is my column pedestal...

and some close-up pictures.

I am really so happy with the result.

If you are interested in similar crafts & DiY projects, click here to see more crafts & DiY projects from The Navage Patch.

Thanks for reading!

Handan, xo

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2 comments

Hannah V on Feb 08, 2016
Very nice! That's such a pretty piece.

1 Reply
- Handan & Greg @ The Navage Patch on Feb 08, 2016
  @Hannah V Thank you, Hannah!
  
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