DIY Antiqued Wall Panel

Hey guys! I’m happy to announce I have rejoined the awesome ladies at the Thrifty Style Team hosted by Julie at Redhead Can Decorate! Each month we bring you a collection of thrifty style DIYs and decor inspiration that doesn’t break the bank!

My contribution to this month’s Thrifty Style Team is a DIY Antiqued Wall Panel. I love the wall panels I see in retail stores, but I could never bring myself to shell out the $75 for one. That was the cheapest I could find for a antiqued wall panel knock off, and don’t even ask how much the real antique deal costs! I decided to try my hand at DIYing my own knock off to save a little green.

My wall panel started off life as a cabinet door I got for $3 at the Habitat For Humanity ReStore. It measures 41 x 14 1/2 inches. Originally it wasn’t painted… I used it for a previous project, then got tired of it and decided to use it to make a sign. I painted it but never got around to adding the letters. It’s been so long I forgot what I wanted it to say.

I bought these nifty wood onlays from Amazon. Amazon has a suprisingly large selection of wood onlays, so if these don’t turn your crank, you’re sure to find some that do. (I’ll include the links to everything I used for this project at the end of the post.)

I glued the onlays onto the cabinet door using Gorilla brand wood glue. I thought it looked nice just like this! You can achieve a lot of different looks using wood onlays.

Once the glue was dry, I painted everything with Americana Decor Chalk Paint in Rustic. When this paint is wet it has more of a rust-brown color, but it turns into a deeper dark brown color when it dries.

Once the paint was dry, I applied FolkArt Home Decor Crackle Medium where I wanted the top coat to crackle and petroleum jelly where I wanted the top coat to chip. You can use Elmer’s glue or Mod Podge to crackle paint as well, but I like the crackle effect of the FolkArt Home Decor Crackle Medium. Many paint lines carry crackle mediums, and some paints are made to crackle without using a crackle medium. You have a lot of choices when it comes to crackling paint, so shop around and find one that makes your heart happy <3

When I painted over the crackle medium, I applied the paint in a thick coat and only brushed over the crackle medium once. Once the paint is on the crackle medium, it can’t be touched/brushed over or it will smear the crackle medium and it won’t crackle. It is very hard to avoid the temptation to re-brush crackle areas that don’t look quite right, but trust me – don’t do it! 🙂

I loved how the crackling came out!

Once the paint was thoroughly dry, I scraped the places I applied petroleum jelly with a paint scraper to chip off the paint (I forgot to take a pic of this). When using petroleum jelly under paint to create a chippy effect, always make sure the paint is thorougly dry before scraping it off. If the paint is still wet, it will smear on the areas you want to chip instead of chipping off.

I applied FolkArt Home Decor Antique Wax on all the onlays…

…and then wiped it off with a damp cotton rag. I then wiped the rest of the wood panel with the same damp cloth to add a little antique color.

I really liked how it turned out! But every project is a learning experience and there are always things I would have done differently. First, I would have painted the cabinet door and onlays separately, then glued them on before I applied the wax. The reason for this is it was hard to work the last coat of paint around the onlays and keep a uniform crackle effect. I also would have applied the crackle to the entire door instead of just here and there, and then put petroleum jelly where I wanted the paint to chip.

I hung the wall panel by my entryway sideboard. I don’t know if I’m in love with it here, but I know there are a lot of other places I can use it. I’ll definitely be making more of these!

This project cost me $27 for the cabinet door and onlays. I already had all the supplies I used for this project, but if I figure into the cost how much of the paint, glue and crackle medium I already had, I estimate this project cost me around $40. That’s almost half the cost if I were to buy a similar wall panel at the store, and by making it I got exactly what I wanted 🙂

Here is the shopping list for all the supplies I used in this project:

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I hope you enjoyed my DIY Antiqued Wood Panel project! Be sure to check out the rest of the great Thifty Style Team projects through the links below!

February Thrifting, The Thrifty Style Team Way!

Thanks for checking out the Thrifty Style Team this month! Be sure to join us on the second Friday of each month for more thrifty style ideas that won’t break the bank!