Anthropologie Inspired Side Table with Fusion Mineral Paint

How to create an "Anthropologie" inspired side table using Fusion Mineral Paint

1/4/2019

Hi friends! I am so excited to be writing this blog for you today! We’ll get to the main part in a minute, just be patient with me….First off I have to say one of the best parts of our job is the ability to be creative. I mean who wouldn’t love being able to make something new and unique everyday, but let me tell you my friends, creativity is a funny thing sometimes. You have some sort of inspiration for whatever you are working on and a idea of what something should look like in your head, but it doesn’t always turn out to be what you expected. Sometimes, it turns out even better than you could have imagined. (I have to be honest, it happens to me all the time with my wreaths. And ok, they don’t always turn out perfect, but there is no such things as a mistake right?) Anyway, what we had envisioned for this piece was a little different than the end result, but we are really excited with the end result and it really exceeded our expectations (and if you ask me, it really speaks to the scope of Gabe’s talent as an artist but I may be a little biased. I mean both Gabe and Marco are extremely talented)

We picked up this little cutie and immediately fell in love with the details. Honestly with pieces like this, the details provide much of the inspiration for the end result. If you have been following some of our other furniture transformations, you’ll quickly find out that we have been obsessed with gold leafing lately and how could we not? The results are just gorgeous! So you may be surprised to know there is actually gold leaf on this piece as well. I know, crazy right?
You’ll just have to keep reading to figure out how we achieved that old world worn look.

Ok friends, I know I kept you waiting long enough, so if you are ready to learn how to create this Anthropologie Inspired Denim Finish, then keep reading! To make things super easy for you, I’ve included links to all the products we used, and just so you know if you buy through our links we get a small percentage of the sale, I mean we have to pay bills too! Now that the “legal” stuff is out of the way let's get to work!

For this project you will need:

Gold Leaf- Find a pack of 100 sheets here
Gold Leaf Adhesive
TSP- Find it here
Spray bottle(s)- Find one on Amazon here
Fusion Mineral Paint- We used Seaside and Inglenook- Find Fusion Mineral Paint here
220 Grit Sandpaper-Find 220 Grit Sandpaper here
A Paintbrush- Gabe used a #20 Flat Staalmeester Brush- Find it here
1 in Chip Brush- Find it here
Fusion’s Pearl Wax- Find all of Fusion's Waxes Here
Java Gel Stain- Find Java Stain here
Blue Shop Towels- Find them here
Soft Bristle Brush (one for glue, one for cleaning)- Find a pack of 5 here
Cheesecloth-Find it here
Optional- Bar Keeper's Friend

Ok our first step in getting this project going was prepping our piece, (I know, I know, prep is like a bad word but trust us on this. You will get longer lasting results with just a little prep) So to get this piece ready for paint, Gabe mixed 2 capfuls of Fusion’s TSP in a liter of water and sprayed it onto the piece and wipe it down. Once the piece is clean (and dry) it's time to give it a scruff sand with 220 grit sandpaper. Just scrape it up a bit so the paint has something to adhere to
and wipe down the dust with a dry shop towel.

Ok people, the prep is done! See it wasn’t that bad was it? (and yes, I do help prep the pieces sometimes so I know what it takes) Now it’s time for the fun part, painting! The first coat was painted using Fusion Mineral Paint’s Seaside (remember use long brush strokes here people and thin layers of paint) after your first coat has dried for about 2 hours, give it a second coat of seaside. We know Fusion’s coverage is amazing and probably doesn’t need a second coat, but we just wanted to add that extra durability.

Once the base coat has dried, it’s time to add the gold leaf….this is fun because you can be as creative as you want. Add the gold leaf adhesive to the parts of the piece where you would like the gold leaf to be. In our case, Gabe added the adhesive to the details on the piece.
(Fair warning friends, the gold leaf will stick to anything with the adhesive on it, hands, clothes, the top of the piece, the rug, etc. let’s just say there was some trial and error when we first started using gold leaf. If you want a visual guide on How to Use Gold Leaf, check out our Facebook Live here)

After the adhesive has dried for about 10 minutes, place your gold leaf sheets over the areas that have the adhesive. Lightly press down on the gold leaf with a clean soft bristled brush. Once all the gold leaf is placed, go back over it with the clean soft bristled brush to remove the excess leaf. Normally you would seal the gold leaf with a top coat, however to get the worn look we are going to wait to seal the gold leaf.

Next, we are going to use two different techniques with the Inglenook; Dry Brushing and Color Washing. To achieve the Color Wash mixture, Gabe mixed a 50/50 ratio of Inglenook and water, then applied the mixture on the details right over the gold leaf. This next part here is important people! Once the mixture is applied, immediately wipe it off with a cheesecloth. This helps to expose some of the gold leaf through the colorwash, which will give it an old world worn look. Once he was happy with the result, he continued to colorwash the entire piece and wipe off with cheesecloth.

After the piece was dry to the touch Gabe went back and dried brushed some Seaside on the piece. If the color was too deep, he went back over it dry brushing on Inglenook. The goal was to give the illusion this piece hand been painted multiple times over the years. You can also dry brush on the details if you want to. (see pic below)

Once Gabe was happy with the result, he used Fusion’s Pearl wax over the entire piece to seal the goldleaf and to add a slight sheen to the piece. Gabe also stained the top of the piece with the General Finishes Gel Stain because he felt it would balance out the rest of the piece. We did want to mention that the knobs also had an amazing transformation. We found this awesome product (Bar Keepers Friend) that cleans all kinds of materials, I mean, just take a look at the before and after pictures, and trust us we have been looking for a product to clean knobs for years and this one is one of the best!

Honestly we love how this piece turned out! This goes to show you that even when things don’t go as you expected, sometimes the results are just so much better! I mean, doesn't it remind you of something you would find in Anthropologie? We’d love to see your projects if you try out this technique! Post them in the comments below!