I pick them up wherever I find them. Sometimes that's at thrift or antique stores, and other times I find them at Home Goods or even Hobby Lobby. Whenever I find them for a good price, I most likely bring them home.
I must say, I'm growing quite the collection, I think I have about 16 now. And with that growing collection comes many different shades of colors and bad paint jobs. I was so happy to come across Rox Van Del's @houseofvandel reel on instagram not to long ago.
She gave a short tutorial on how she painted her store bought bust to look more "aged". It was so easy and her statue turned out beautifully! I decided to try her technique out myself.
All you need is these three items.
-Behr paint in "Basswood"
-Sherwin Williams paint "Egg White"
-coffee wash ( I used a watered down dark wax in "antique color")
The small statue below really needed a makeover, I found it for five dollars at a Goodwill store, the paint job was really bad, and it also had a strange flower decal all over it.
The two busts on the ends were Christmas gifts from my Husband and Son. I love them, but they are just too white in my opinion.
I started on this lovely bust first. I bought her years ago from Hobby Lobby. First I gave here two coats of of the Basswood paint. Look how amazing she already looks with the new color going on!
Once that color is dry, I started painting on Sherwin Williams "Egg White". This second color I painted on messily and almost in a dry brush type of way. I left some areas with the first paint color showing through.
In DIY reel, the last step was to do a coffee wash all over the statue. I didn't have any coffee, but I did water down some dark wax that I brushed over some of the statues but not all. It's really just your personal preference, I think they look just as beautiful with just the paint alone.
Remember my all white Apollo bust from before? Here he is with his old world patina paint job.
I love his profile.
I decided to group some of my statues on the mantel to really see the results. I did not paint the Apollo bust on one end of the mantel (I have two Apollos) and the Artemis statue on the other end. I love their natural patina already and I am delighted with how well the others look grouped beside them.
This little statue of either Artemis or Aphrodite turned out so well!!! I just love her now. I couldn't remove her floral decal, but the paint went on right over it, and you can't even tell it was ever there.
I'm also very happy with the black Hobby Lobby bust's transformation. So much better! I was very nervous to paint her, but I'm so glad that I did.
I think they all look so nice grouped together now that the patinas are so similar. I love to display my bust collection together each year for Halloween. They are always adorned with venetian masks and a flock of black crows. This year I think the group with look even better with the new paint job.
This bust I just purchased from Home Goods. I didn't like the the areas with the terra cotta paint showing through.
She turned out lovely!
This was such a simple and fun project! I really encourage you to go for it if you have a statue or bust with a paint job you don't love. You honestly can't mess this up.
Had to snap a photo of one of my newest roses in the garden. This is Eustacia Vye, a beautiful pink sherbet colored rose from David Austin roses. I had to pick it because I noticed the Japanese beetles have arrived. They already destroyed quite a few buds on my Olivia rosebush, so I rescued this bloom before it got ruined.
Thank you so much for visiting! I hope your summer is going well! Ours is just flying by!
-Larissa
