Doesn't match your decor? Paint it!

I recently bought these candlesticks at Big Lots and I loved the shape, but they didn't match any of my living room decor. So naturally, I decided to paint them. 

                      BEFORE

                     AFTER

I wanted to go for a mismatched, shabby chic look so I decided to use two of my favorite painting techniques: distressing and dry brushing. 

I made the white candlestick by distressing. First I coated the edges that I wanted to distress with candle wax. Then I spray painted it with two coats of Rust-Oleum Universal Satin Paint & Primer in One in White. 

After the paint was fully dry, I sanded the candlestick with an 80 grit sanding sponge to distress the edges. 

I used a dry-brushing technique to make the yellow candlestick. First I coated it with the same white primer as above. Then I painted it with a sample of Behr Premium Plus interior flat paint in the color Pineapple Soda. Once the yellow paint had dried, I added some dimension by brushing on some of my leftover Benjamin Moore Aura paint in the color White Dove. 

I used this 3/4" stencil brush for the dry brushing. I bought a set of these at the Home Depot in the paint section. 

Dry brushing is exactly what it sounds like. You put a small amount of paint on the brush, dab as much of the paint as you can off on a rag so that it is almost "dry" and then flick the brush back and forth over the surface of the object you're painting. This should give you a sheer coat of paint and should allow you to see the textured brush strokes.

I hope you enjoyed this post and that you'll try out one of these techniques!