I love vintage and landscape paintings, but there’s something special about family photos displayed throughout a home. I have been wanting to create a gallery wall in our living room for quite some time. I wanted to mix and match finishes and sizes and have made countless trips to Goodwill sifting through the picture frames to add to my collection. But once I finally took a look at the frames that I’ve collected, I realized that the gold finishes clashed with one another.
I have seen many DIYers on Instagram using Rub N Buff and decided this was the perfect project to give that a try.
MATERIALS USED:
Picture frames of choice
Rub N Buff (I used color “European Gold”)
Black paint
A small, stiff paint brush (an old makeup brush works too)
A paper plate or a hard clean surface to blend the Rub N Buff on
These are the frames I was working with:
STEP 1: Take out the glass and thoroughly clean the frames.
This is important when working with older frames as they may have years of build up on them.
STEP 2: Paint the picture frames black. The black paint doesn’t have to be perfect or even cover completely. We’re just aiming for a dark base. This will create the depth and dimension required for a vintage patina effect.
If you don’t want it to look aged then feel free to skip this part.
(Make sure the paint has fully dried before going on to the next step.)
STEP 3: Apply a dab of Rub N Buff to a flat surface, such as a paper plate, then using your brush, blend thoroughly. You'll want to start off very lightly because it ‘dries’ right away—meaning you can’t blend it in or spread it around. Remember, you can always add more but you can’t easily take it away.
You can experiment with the patina effect and go for more contrast by letting the base coat show through, or a subtler look by adding more layers of the Rub N Buff.
I liked how it looked with the black coming through so I did one coat.
This was such a fun and quick DIY. I love how the picture frames turned out and can't believe how good they look. I can't wait to finally hang the gallery wall.
I hope this post was helpful. If you have been wanting an easy and inexpensive way to antique almost anything, give this a try! I'm already looking for my next Rub N Buff project.
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