DIY Glazing and Antiquing Furniture Tutorial! {You're WELCOME!}

We get an tons of emails from readers who have questions about glazing furniture. And since we aim to please, we've whipped up a little tutorial for you DIYers. There's little more satisfying in life than glazing a beautifully ornate piece of furniture. You'll see what I mean when you experience your own glazing satisfaction.

Instead of using a hefty large piece of furniture for this demonstration, I decided to use this waste paper basket that my girl Kathy Epley snagged for me awhile back. It's got great scrolly detail, and lots of cracks and crevices, nooks and cranies.... which is the basic guildline for knowing if your piece of furniture is a good candidate for glaze. Below are some examples of detailed pieces we've glazed and sold. You can click on each photo for the corresponding post.

 

So here's how the waste basket started out:

I started by priming with Kilz spray paint.

After an hour of dry time, I sprayed on Krylon's Blue Ocean Breeze that we had leftover from Eloise. I could list off reasons for why I almost always prefer spraypaint over brushing it on, but my bloggy friend, Brooke, spelled it out so eloquently on her blog, I decided that was super sufficient! See that post here.

After letting it dry overnight, I started prepping for glazing. We use Dutch Boy Technique Glaze, but any technique glaze will do. Other common brands are Valspar, Ralph Lauren and Martha Stewart. You won't need more than a quart, unless you have an entire house full of furniture to glaze. A gallon will last you forever. I bought a gallon, cause I'm that kinda gal.

I wanted a dark brown glaze, so I used a mixture of black and brown latex paint that we had leftover. You'll mix 4 parts glaze with 1 part paint. This isn't an exact science. Do like Rachel Ray and just dump some in. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised to find out that you can glaze in any color!!! I've used white glaze before on this project, and totally look forward to trying out other colors!!

Mix it all together, kids.

Now that you've got your glaze prepared, all you need is a paint brush or sponge brush, and some damp rags. (I just wring out the water with all my pathetic strength, but you could use a spray bottle with water in it too).

Brush on a thin layer of glaze, making sure to get the glaze into all the cracks and crannies, nooks and crevices. It's tempting to get globby to more efficiently cover the surface, but remember you're going to be wiping off 90% of all the glaze, so that could potentially get messy with your damp rag.

Next, you'll take your damp rag and wipe off the glaze on all the raised surfaces. With each wipe, you'll want to use a clean part on the cloth.

Look at the difference glazing makes!

You can wipe off as little or as much as you want. Below is an example of how you can leave more glaze, or wipe it almost completely off. I ended up wiping the whole thing down real good, but you really can't go wrong with this. That's the beauty!

And just like that, you've got a beautifully antiqued piece, with the details popping out real loud like. Doesn't it make a huge difference?! FANCY!

We recycle spaghetti sauce jars to store leftover glaze. Seals tight, and stays juicy till your next project!!

There you have it... a glazing tutorial! Do you likey?

Do you have a project you're about to tackle? Have you used a glaze color other than black or white? Have you been wanting to glaze but weren't quite sure of yourself?? I hope my tutorial helped! Feel free to ask any questions you might have. And be sure to email us your before and after pics!!!