faux silver leaf side table tutorial

What is faux silver leaf you ask? Aluminum foil, of course! :)

I picked up this table a while back for a steal!



and I wanted it to look like an old, worn out, well used, industrial table. Here's what it looks like now:



So here's a little tutorial for you.

Supplies:

table
spray paint (or paint of choice) I used Barn Red
foil - I've read some tutorials that call for heavy duty. I prefer the thin cheap stuff because it acts more like silver leaf.
modpodge

Step 1: Turn table upside down and spray paint the legs and any part that won't be covered in foil. I didn't get a picture of the table upside down and me painting it, you get the idea though, right? Here it is after it's painted and dry ready to be foiled!


Step 2: tear foil into little squares. For this table I used the tearing strip on the foil box, but since then I've just used a straight edge to tear the foil so you don't have to deal with the teeth marks. Tear a lot. Then tear a few more just in case. I just tore the strips in half for this table top. For a smaller project I'd tear them smaller - maybe 4x4. These were around 6x6.






Step 3: Start applying the modpodge in one corner and laying your foil down making sure to overlap the edges of the table.


I folded my corners nicely, like this:


Step 4: Continue adding glue and overlapping until the table is covered. You'll have to add modpodge on top of some foil so the overlapped piece will stick down.




Here's where I didn't take pictures. {sorry!} I repeated this whole process on the shelf as well. When the entire table was done and dry (a couple days later) I started the 'aging' process. Now, keep in mind I didn't do any research on any of this I was just flying by the seat of my pants. So, I poured some modpodge in a little bowl and added a little walnut wood stain. Sounds super intelligent, right? Exactly. It was...weird.

The stain sits on top of the modpodge (in the bowl) and I just went with it. I applied it like I would wax a piece of furniture. I got a rag and an old paint brush. I would get stain with a little modpodge on it and slop it on. Then very quickly I would use my brush to push it all around where I wanted it to be. If there was too much, I rubbed harder and not enough I did it again. I did this over all the foil on the piece and then when it was all dry I went over all of it with hard coat modpodge. I basically used the modpodge to 'hold' the stain where I wanted it to be then I let it dry.

That's it. Here's how it looks finished - again:





Enjoy!