Dry-brushing made simple (and beautiful)

First of all, thanks for all of your nursery input and to everyone who made it to my ginormous yard sale.  It really made my day.

Today I have a quick transformation of a yard sale find of my own to share.  I LOVE how paint can truly transform just about anything from something dated, ugly, or boring into something fabulous.

I am especially a fan of all the great textured looks you can achieve with paint.  There are so many great techniques to add depth and interest to painted projects – washes, glazes, dry-brushing, distressing, waxing, layering…

Several months ago I found the cutest little gold sunburst mirror.  It was fine as it was but to me it was just crying out for a bit of texture.  So I whipped out some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and went to work layering on different colors.

There are several great things about this technique:

• You don’t have to use chalk paint – you can really use just about anything.  I chose chalk paint because I just love the look it gives and I already had some.
• It is easy and fast.  When you dry-brush, you don’t have to worry about covering everything or being perfect – you kind of just slap the paint on.
• It looks seriously awesome when you are done.

Dry brushing made simple

1. I don’t have a great before picture, but here you can see the cheapy gold finish it had to start.  I did tape off the mirror before I began to make clean up easier at the end.
2. Take your base color (in this case Pure White) and dry brush it onto the frame.  Dry brushing is pretty much what it sounds like. Dip the brush slightly into the paint and then wipe most of it off against the edge of the can.  Then wipe a little more excess off on a piece of newspaper or paper towel.  Then lightly brush the remaining paint onto the surface.  The paint will be a little thicker in some areas and in others, the original color will show through – this is what you want, that is what gives it texture.
3. Take your second color ( Providence) and basically do the same thing.  It is up to you how thickly you want to paint on this color – just play around with it.  You really can’t mess up with a project like this because you can always add more layers.
4. Finally, take your base color again and lightly dry brush over the top of everything.  This will help the colors blend together a bit and give that awesome depth and interest.

I love how weathered and broken-in the final finish looks – beautiful! (And no one has to know how easy it was).

Are you a texture fiend like me? What is your favorite technique for getting a textured finish with paint?