What could be more romantic than candlelight in the bath? Carol Schalla, interior design director for Sampler Publications, explains how to convert old table legs into charming weathered candleholders by giving them a crackle-paint finish or gilding them with gold leaf. Materials:
Turned table legs, chair legs or stair spindles cut to desired height
Acrylic craft paints
Paintbrushes
Crackle medium
Gold leaf and gold-leaf adhesive for burnished-gold accents
- Apply a base coat to the piece and let dry (figure A). Paint different sections of the piece different colors, if you like. Carol painted one section of the candleholder gold and another green.
- Brush a layer of clear crackle medium onto the painted surface (figure B).
- When the crackle medium is dry, after about 20 minutes, brush on a top coat of paint (figure C). Use long strokes, and try to avoid painting over the same area twice: the crackle medium affects the paint it first comes in contact with, so applying one stroke on top of another can ruin the look. Carol used a cream top coat, which will crackle and reveal the painted surface beneath.
- To add a gilded look to a painted or crackle-painted candleholder, spray the piece with gold-leaf adhesive, and gently press a sheet of gold leaf to the sticky surface. Gold leaf is very fragile and will break apart. Press tiny broken bits of the gold leaf in place, and burnish with your fingertip (figure D).
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