The Easy Antique Finish

I LOVE cedar chests!  My parents were fantastic about the tradition of giving a cedar "Hope" chest to my sister, Giselle, and I.  Giselle chose a Hope chest from Lane furniture and it's lovely after 17 years.  I on the other hand, had been helping a friend with his Eagle project and while gutting a house for Habitat for Humanity, I found an old steamer trunk in the attic to be used for my Hope chest.  My dad fixed it up for me by lining it with cedar planks and making a tray for the top.  It has been a fun piece of furniture to have.

But, I digress!  Last year, while I was helping a friend move into her new home, her new neighbors were hosting a garage sale.  I found this beauty:

It had the veneer coming off on all sides but the top opened to reveal cedar!  But did I say I LOVE cedar chests?!  Anyway, I was super excited about it!  Since I had plans for it in to go into my house, I wanted to make it match my kitchen table and buffet (since my living room and kitchen are nearly just one large room).

First thing I did was to fill in some of the chipped veneer with wood putty, let it dry and then I painted the entire chest in my favorite white: "Silver Feather".   Some of the veneer I left - but it's actually because I forgot to check all 5 sides and was in too impatient to wait for the wood putty to dry again.  As it turned out, I actually like how it looked - more "antiqued". 

Lowe's has a great antiquing glaze by Valspar that I've used on all of my kitchen cabinets, all of my approximately 30 frames, a kitchen table, a buffet, a queen-sized bed, and a full-sized bed.  And yes, it's lasted for all of those projects and there is still about 1/8th of it left.  I can't even remember when I bought it, but the current price is about $10 - I think it's been well worth that cost!  (Neither Lowe's nor Valspar, nor anyone for that matter, pays me to say any of this, I'm just giving my own thoughts.)

An old toothbrush has been the best tool to apply the glaze.  It fits in all the nooks and crannies.

Brush it all over the area (a little section is shown here, but I've gotten impatient and done the entire top of a headboard and it didn't dry on the painted wood too quickly).

Then with a damp rag, wipe away the extra.  I usually rinse the rag pretty regularly and then just re-use it on the next "antiqued" area of the project.

  

The finished product.

 

I got the fantastic Pledge of Allegiance subway art here.