Industrial Faux Metal Nightstand

I am so excited to be a part of an amazing group of bloggers who paint furniture. And I am jumping right in with a piece that has an "Industrial" feel.  That is this months theme. It took me out of my comfort zone, but I am so glad I put myself to the challenge. Let me know if you think I hit the mark...

I have to admit "Industrial" was a challenge because most of the furniture pieces that I am attracted to usually have curves or lots of carved details. Then as I was looking through my stash of furniture, I remembered this nightstand that I had recently picked up at a yard sale for $5. It had simple lines and I figured it would do the job. I had a certain design in mind, but knowing that the hardware that I had ordered probably wasn't going to arrive in time, I changed my plan since I knew I was going to keep the original knob. But it didn't bother me too much since the knob has some yummy PaTiNa!

This nightstand was probably made in the 50s, or at least it has a certain vintage vibe that lent itself well to be transformed into an industrial piece.

I began by painting it black using some "Blackberry House" Paint that I had left over. I was so glad to have enough to use on this project. I love the fact that it is highly pigmented so that after one coat, I had almost complete coverage. Excuse the blue painters tape which was put on to add some character to the edges of the drawer with paint. See below…

Steps for Drawer Fronts

1. Use narrow tape to measure out an equal edging on the drawer and then add painters tape to the inside.  2. Remove tape on the edge and you are ready to add some paint.  3. Use rust coloured paint  and a touch of silver paint on outer edge of the drawer and the outer edge of tape.  4. The nailheads were originally gold coloured and I painted them black with tiny bits of rust and silver paint as well. In order to save time, I used my Silhouette designer program to create a printout of evenly spaced dots to indicate where the nailheads would go. Placing it on the drawer front I hit the nailheads halfway in one at a time. 5. Once they are all halfway hammered in, tear off the paper and hammer them all the way down.  6.  I lightly sanded the facade to give it more of a worn look. 

7. This number stencil that I bought at Walmart did the trick to add just a bit more of an industrial vibe. To paint the numbers I used some outdoor acrylic paint, (but you can use regular acrylic), and a makeup sponge wedge to apply it to the stencil. 

I chose not to distress the stencilling as it already had a weathered edge, but I may do so later on.

When trying to get a rusted metal look, paint the rust around the edges of the piece, where it would naturally rust and then add tiny bits of the silver paint to the rusted areas, so that it looks authentic. Make sure to vary the sizes and shapes of the rust and silver. I used a small brush, loaded it up with paint and dragged it across the edges, twisting it slightly as I went along so that I would get thick and thin spots. I am so pleased with the results. I think it would look great in a boys room.

Hope I have inspired you to try your hand at painting something to look like faux metal. What do you think? Does it look like the real deal?

Oh and if you liked this post you may like to see another faux finished piece that I used the same stencil set on.

You can find the tutorial for it HERE

Blessings,
Lucy

Make sure to check out some other great Industrial pieces from my furniture painting blog buddies for more inspiration!