How to give metal a weathered look

We all know how much I love the Target Dollar Spot and how you can find some killer deals in there. I found these super cute succulents there after a friend posted on Instagram about the cute things she did with them. When I was there I found this metal bin for $3 to put them in but I was not sure whether or not I would like the look of the silver metal in my house. I bought it anyway because I knew even if I did not like the look of it I could just use some of my mixed up chalk paint at home and create something new.

I have been waiting for a while to find something to put on this little tray that I have. I have moved this tray around so much because I could not find a place that I liked it. It finally found a home under the bar that separates all of our rooms but I had no idea what to put on it. This beautiful succulent display worked out perfectly, its like they were made for each other. However after a few days I was really getting tired of the shinny metal. I liked the look, but I did not love it. I also felt like it did not go super well with my decor. I decided to figure out how to give metal a weathered look.

I took the piece outside to work some magic while I painted some other pieces. I started out by applying a layer of my grey BB Frosch mixed chalk paint. I made sure that I covered the piece completely because I wanted it to have a weathered look, almost like it had been sitting out in the rain for years and in order to achieve that look I needed it to have had an original color.

Then I sand the crap out of it using a low grit sand paper. I wanted it to have a lot of the paint missing because I was not even closed to finished yet.

After I had sanded it I added a VERY thin layer of wet wash, meaning my brush was pretty wet when I dipped it into the white paint I was using.

I did not wait for the paint to dry but immediately wiped it off using a damp cloth. Again I was going for a weathered look. I wanted it to look chippy and aged by the outside elements. After that was all done I added the wax and my piece was finished.

When I was done I was doing a happy dance, akin to a leprechaun jig, feet clapping together and everything because I was so excited that I achieve the look I was going for in less than 10 minutes and for mer pennies!!!

Seriously!! Can you believe that I did this using only Chalk Paint and that it only took me a few minutes? I can’t believe that this used to be a super shinny metal tin before! It doesn’t even look like the same piece.