I found 2 free vintage shelves that fit perfect on a cupboard in the Frame and Frills shop I planned to display the 11 new Fusion Mineral Paint colors on. After looking at the shelves for a bit, I got a vision of how to re-do them. Since the shelves were a laminate and even had a stone type texture on them, I figured to do a faux marble painted finish on them would be perfect!
I’ll give you a quick before, during and after of the shelves re-do, but this post is mostly showing how to DIY faux marble with paint, which I show in the video.
The shelf part of these shelving units are a laminate type material, so basically plastic coating over fiberboard. The spindle supports are pine wood.
After I thoroughly washed the shelves with Fusion TSP Alternative, I primed the laminate shelves with Ultra Grip. Ultra Grip is what makes painting the impossible actually possible. It goes on white, but dries clear. Ultra Grip needs to cure for a minimum of 12-24 hours before painting, but it will adhere to a normally tough surface to paint like laminate.
Since this was going to be used to display the 11 new Fusion Mineral Paint colors, I wanted to use those colors for these shelves. Therefore, I painted the base color, (2 coats) the lightest of the new colors, a warm white color called ‘Victorian Lace’.
Next, I prepared my tools, LOL.
I wanted to use a natural sea sponge, but couldn’t find mine so I made one… I chopped up a synthetic sponge to try to create an irregular shape.
Then I started to play on a sample board to get the hang of it…
Mostly what I determined with the sample board was what NOT to do… and that blending is super important!
Here is the video I made showing how to DIY a faux marble painted finish:
(I do have a little introduction at the beginning showing a bit of what I already wrote here, but then I get into the nitty gritty of the steps to create it)
After all the steps and layers were done, the finished look is very believable!
To complete my shelves re-do, I primed the pine with BIN shellac based primer to successfully seal it so that the tannins didn’t bleed and discolor the finish. (Woods like pine, cedar, mahogany and red oak are known ‘bleeders’!)
After 2 coats of the new ‘Blue Pine’ color. I decided that a little ‘ageing’ on the spindles would look good.
For ageing the spindles, I grabbed a workshop brush and after getting a little paint ‘Hazelwood’ on the end of the bristles, I off-loaded it onto paper towels.
Until there was barely any paint coming off the brush…
With this dry brush, I wiped it over the spindles here and there.
Here you can see the difference between the spindle in the foreground that is dry brushed and the one on the right that isn’t done.
The finished shelves with the DIY faux marble painted finish shelves work great to display the new paints.
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The TSP Alternative, Ultra Grip, Glaze, Fusion Mineral Paints, and Tough Coat I used in this project are available in my shop Frame and Frills. You can shop in person or online. HERE is more info about Frame and Frills and all the fun DIY products and projects we have!
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