Antiqued Painted Sign

You may have noticed our Bakery sign hanging above the china cabinet in our kitchen – you can see it in the photo below from my Antique Ladder and Pendant Lights post [here].

To make the sign, I just painted a piece of wood white and used stencils to paint the letters. As soon as it was finished, though, I knew it wasn’t quite right. It looked a little too perfect. I wanted to make the sign look a little bit vintage or antiqued.

Today I’m sharing with you my “quick tip” on how to achieve an antiqued look on a new painted sign. It’s really easy and fast, my favorite kind of project! ;)

As you can see in the photos above, the antiquing on my sign isn’t drastic. You can make yours even more antique if you want: the more rough your piece of wood is, the more it will antique. It just depends on your preference!

After my sign was all painted, I sanded the edges and hit it in several places with a hammer. Again, if you want a more dramatic antiquing, just rough it up more!

After roughing your sign up, rub on some paste finishing wax in a dark color. I really like the “special dark” color. At room temperature, the texture is exactly what it says it is: waxy. Using a lightweight cloth (I just use an old t-shirt), gather some of the wax up and then close your cloth so the wax is kind of balled up.

Then, just rub the cloth (wax inside) onto your sign! With the friction, it will melt through the cloth and onto your sign. 

I like the dark wax on white paint – it makes it look less “bright white” and more of an antiqued white. You can use the same wax color on any color of paint you want, though! Also, you can seal your sign up with a polycrylic if you want to. My sign hangs up high and isn’t really touched, but if you want yours to be a little more protected, just use a clear polycrylic and seal it!  What do you think? Would you try this?

If you have any questions at all, just let me know in the comments!

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