Faux Zinx finish a la Restoration Hardware

There is a finish that's making its way all around Pinterest. Metallic is everywhere. So naturally I want to try it. What I really want to do is a very very shiny silver but this time I'm attempting a subtle faux zinc technique.

There are many many tutorials on the web about how to achieve this and every one of them is very different. That's what makes it fun, huh? I kind of picked two and then did my own thing for various reasons. One was Freckled Laundry, and hers was awesome but I didn't follow all her steps, but I did take her idea of "ragging" on the paint.

The other, ChiChi Studio I found because I wanted to search ways of doing it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. And it turns out she is a local gal who shops for ASCP at the same place. Small world!

I took a few ideas from each blog but then ended up kind of doing my thing.

Here was my inspiration:

A zinc finish Restoration Hardware Piece. I love the shine and color, but I wanted darker hardware to make it look more industrial.

This is how it happened:

Supplies:

Paint Brushes (duh)
DecoArt Metallic Finish in Silver and Black
White Paint (any)
Annie Sloan Graphite Chalk Paint
Gray Paint (any)
Glaze
Polyurethane
Rags (or old tshirts)
Gripper Primer

I know that sounds like a lot but a lot of that I had on hand already so the only thing I really bought was metallic paint.

First, the before. It was an Ethan Allen buffet I got for a steal off of Craigslist. So it had good bones and was very solid.

And the after:

1. First, I primed it with my Gripper Primer. You don't have to do that if you use Annie Sloan, but I wanted a really smooth surface, and plus I didn't use 100% ASCP as the base (WHAT???? You MIXED Annie Sloan with latex paint?? Can you DO THAT???) Yes, I did, and I broke the rules. Shame on me. But, hey, it worked. And I wanted it lighter than Graphite, so I mixed in a little bit of gray. Thats why its fun!

Primed and ready to go!

2. Next was my coat of chalk paint mixed with a little bit of gray. One thin coat should be plenty it doesn't need full coverage but you definitely want enough to show the color.

You can see the coverage isn't great, but thats ok.

3. Mix three different containers of metallic sheens (this idea I got from Freckled Laundry). I was going to use all three using the rag method, but I ended up only using the darker two and then using the lightest as a glaze at the end.

I used the original AS paint and mixed in the black metallic to it (left) then the black metallic with silver glaze (top right) them silver metallic with white paint (bottom)

4. Rag it on using a tshirt. I have never used this method before, but it was really easy! Almost better than using a paint brush. And since I had already used a really good chalk paint base the colors blended beautifully . So, here is where the fun begins. You rag on the darker, then while it's wet throw some of the silver metallic on there as well and rag it on there together. It doesn't have to be perfect, just the mixture of silvers creates than zinc finish. But only work it small sections because it dries quickly

You can see the different shades of silver using this method.

5. Glaze. I mixed up glaze with the lightest of the three colors mixed together. It was the one where I mixed white with silver. I again ragged this color then wiped off the excess. It left this fabulous silver shimmer.

6. Poly it up! I used two coats of polyurethane. Again, I know this is a no-no with ASCP, but I only used it as a base, and I wanted the super shine "hardness" of poly on this piece.

So, there you go! What do you think?? It seems like a lot of steps, but it went pretty fast. it helps when you're allowed to be messy and not perfect, right?