How to Distress Galvanized Metal

by Nicki Parrish @ Sweet Parrish Place
(IC: blogger)
How many of you have a bucket or vase that is shiny metal, and you wish it were more distressed and old looking? Today I am going to tell you how to distress galvanized metal. It is really easy! I purchased this tall vase, or bucket (whatever you want to call it) last Spring it was all shiny and new, but I wanted it to look old and distressed. So I set out to figure a way to give it an aged patina. My method was successful, so if you want to do this yourself, give it a try!
Supplies: Toilet bowl cleaner, steel wool, gloves to protect your hands, and water. That’s it!
All you do is apply the toilet bowl cleaner (while wearing gloves) all over the surface of the metal you are distressing ( I chose to just do the outside of mine), and give it a good scrubbing with a piece of steel wool. Then do not rinse it off, just leave it sitting there for about 1/2 hour. If it isn’t to your liking after a half hour, leave it until it is. After you have let it sit until you feel like it looks distressed the way you want it, rinse it off really well. If you are thinking of doing this yourself, you can click through to my blog for more details.
And you are done! The shiny finish is completely gone. If you want it to look even more distressed and aged, you can leave it out in the rain a few times after that, now that the shiny finish is off, it should rust if left outdoors. Right now, as you can see, I have my vase sitting on my Spring mantle. And I like it so much more now!
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Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Published May 30th, 2015 11:58 AM
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