Restoration Hardware Weathered Wood Look Tutorial
1-1.5 Hour
Easy
A reader said, "I bet you could make and sell a lot of these!" and I bet someone could. This is a super easy painting technique which I used to get a gray weathered, driftwood appearance just like you see in Restoration Hardware and other trendy stores.
I found this wood box at the thrift store (it's actually particle board) and decided to turn it into a mail organizer for our kitchen. We needed a place to hold incoming and outgoing mail without it cluttering the countertops and I thought this box would be perfect. Already looks like a mailbox, right?
I scruffed sanded the box & wiped it down with a tack cloth, then my youngest painted the base coat on. I used Poppie's Paint Powder to make "homemade" chalk paint. It was easy to mix and didn't have any clumps like other homemade chalk paint recipes I've tried. It went on smooth and dried quickly.
This is how the box looked after the base coat was completed. The bottom slot holds a drawer so I wasn't worried about painting that entire area, but I did paint the entire inside of the top compartment.
I applied the white chalk paint in a small section and then used a clean rag to wipe off most of the paint. Tip: "Press" the white paint into the wood grain as you wipe and be sure to wipe in the same direction as the wood grain. I repeated these steps for the rest of the box including the inside.
It may find a home in the office one day, but for now it's living on a counter I never, ever use and it's hiding some of that very busy granite. Am I the only one bothered by busy granite??? Surely not :-)
For in depth details, including colors and products used, please go to: http://www.thetatteredrabbit.com/weathered-wood-finish-tutorial/
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2 of 11 comments
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Love this!
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Great job.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Seeing the possibilities in anything is a very important skill that negative people don't develop. Yes, the box does look like a mail sorter, now. How did you make the Stamps label look old? Are you still using the sorter? And most important, do you use 3D glasses when you look at that countertop? You might see a dinosaur! Best wishes 😇