Peeling Paint Technique

One of my blogging goals this year was to show you more tutorials. I haven't been very good about that goal. I thought I'd share the technique I use to make wood furniture look like there are layers of paint on it. Here is a basic wooden stool, picked up at the thrift store for $2. It did not have any kind of finish, so I didn't need to sand or prime it.

I started with a coat of cream paint, slapping it on quickly. It is best to use acryclic craft paints for this technique. Latex can end up peeling off in big pieces.

When cream was dry, I used an old candle and rubbed it in different spots on the cream, in long strokes. in the summer, the wax can melt if it is too hot. This time of year, I have to press harder to get more wax on the piece, because it is cold.

I then slapped on a coat of blue (sorry-fuzzy picture, but the only I took).

Lather, rinse, and repeat (which means I repeated the waxing process when the blue was dry).

I then painted my final coat, green. I have done up to five colors before. When the green was dry, I used a paint scraper to scrape the paint off, from where the wax was.

When I had finished scraping, I sanded to smooth out the paint finish. You do not want to skip the paint scraping and go directly to sanding--it totally gums up your sandpaper.

After wiping the piece clean, I used minwax gel stain in aged oak over the paint. The gel stain will sit on top of the paint nicely, and doesn't need bare wood to soak into.

And here is the finished stool after a coat of polyacrylic. I am liking the fresh spring green (especially since I see white out the window!).