Stains Aren't Always Bad

Have you tried using stain in your projects lately?

I recently bought this antiquing polish at Michael's. It has been so fun to experiment! Take, for example, this mirror that I bought at Goodwill:

I spray painted it gold, but then it was, you know, too gold. So I used some of the antiquing polish to tone it down. Like the result?

I also had this sign in my kitchen that I hand painted years ago. I tried to antique it with sanding, but it just wasn't doing the trick.

So once I had the antiquing polish out, I started attacking everything I laid eyes on. See the difference?
Next was this barn wood frame that I painted a pale blue. Just rubbing a little antiquing polish over the top really gave it some great depth.

Same with this gold frame. I love how streak-y it looks now:

Give it a try sometime! Wet a paper towel and wring it out, then just blob a little antiquing polish on there. Rub it onto your frame or furniture piece or whatever you want, and then be ready with a dry paper towel to blot and tweak. Play around with it until you get the look you want!

Pretty cheap thrill, huh? (For us decorating dorks, at least!)