Create Your Own Vintage Inspired DIY Corbels
by
Jamie
$1
1 Hour
Medium
A little paint and distressing is all these foam shelves needed to become aged architectural corbels perfect for decorating.
I'm in love with the idea of using old architectural salvage pieces in decorating. They bring a bit of old charm to a display. Plus, no two pieces are going to be alike or worn in the same way making what you have completely unique and one-of-a-kind. That comes with a high cost post of the time, though.
I transformed two decorative shelves that were very dated and faux into shabby, distressed corbels to use in my home. The shelves were actually free so the entire project cost almost nothing.
The shelves are made of foam and then covered with a type of resin. They weren't horrible, but were highlighted with gold. I'm not opposed to gold, but it wasn't right for these.
I started by painting over the original finish with burnt umber paint. This needs to be the base so that when you distress the white paint you have "wood" showing through. One coat is all you need.
Then each shelf got two coats of white chalk paint which gives them a great texture.
After the paint was dry, I used a heavy grit sandpaper to distress the white finish and reveal the brown "wood" beneath. Always start with a fine grit sandpaper, though, until you see how well the paint will distress.
The shape of the two corbels is really pretty and the distressing highlights the details. The chalk paint also added a really great finish and you'd never know that these were once shiny, gold painted shelves.
There are so many uses for old corbels. You can use them as a decorative item as I've done in this display. Or use them together as book ends. I may even one day return these to their previous life of being shelves by hanging them on the wall with a rustic piece of wood on top.
What do you think? Do you have anything old and out of date lying around that you could update with paint?
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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3 comments
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Is it bad that I didn't know what a corbel was? It's lovely though!
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Absolutely inspired! I have an old pair of plaster corbels that need some repair. Now I know exactly how I want them to look when refurbished. Thanks, awesome!
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