Hand Painted Rustic finish

I know, it has a thousand different names but its all achieved through the same technique, HAND PAINTED. I have fallen in love with the effect of this finish, the only thing is that it costs a small fortune to have done. I am currently in the planning process of building a new Tuscan style home of which the center piece will be the kitchen. I have someone who can do all the carcases from scratch and can have all the doors, panels, corbles supplied also. I work for a marble and granite company so the tops are not an issue, that leaves one thing, the painting of the kitchen itself. I consider myself handy and will tackle just about anything as long as I have the right advise on doing it right. This picture is the exact finish that I am after. Can anyone help.

Cheers

So you have pics of what you want,

What sorta help do you need?

My mother just hand painted all her kitchen cabinet doors, and she is no expert but they look pretty good. The decorative scrolls look like the following method has been used.
1. Paint the wood (after undercoating) with a your cabinet colour and let dry.
2. After sanding, paint over this layer with a thinned down darker colour (an artist paint might work well here), then rub off with a sponge.

Hope this helps, Cheers

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Originally Posted by echnidna

So you have pics of what you want,

What sorta help do you need?

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I want to know how to acheive the look. Preperation, the correct paint to use, application methods. From what I have seen in showrooms there is a base coat followed by a darker colour(presuming we are talking about a cream colour) applied with a brush as it would appear to get a streaking affect. Deeper areas with a darker colour again and wiped with either a spong or rag to leave colour in the deep areas. All sounds good in theory to me but I dont know. I might just buy a small door panel and just so some trials.

Err . . . I wouldn't really call the finish of the woodwork in picture of the kitchen you posted at all rustic. The painting looks way too perfect for that. I also wouldn't apply the sort of rustic finish you refer to to the design of that kitchen - the design is err, too "modern house and garden".

I did some MDF picture frames in a similar way to what you describe earlier this year.
Here is what I did.
1. Sand timber to a reasonably fine finish.
2. Coat with light colour (I used pale grey) - when dry sand with fine sandpaper
3. Coat with final colour (I used dark green), making sure all recesses are well coated but leave highlights streaky, You can leave it quite blotchy if you want to
4. Sand back randomly the highlights and edges till light colour shows through in patches

Someone said I should apply a clear coat on top but I haven't done this.

The photo shows the final effect obtained. Unfortunately the final effect is not all that visible in this photo but everyone who sees the frame thinks its a 100 yr old frame

I'm not convinced I'd want to do my whole kitchen this way.

Practicing on scraps is a very good idea. I'd advise using a LARGE scrap, like a whole cupboard door size scrap. It's also only paint so you can paint over any mistakes.

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Originally Posted by BobL

Err . . . I wouldn't really call the finish of the woodwork in picture of the kitchen you posted at all rustic. The painting looks way too perfect for that. I also wouldn't apply the sort of rustic finish you refer to to the design of that kitchen - the design is err, too "modern house and garden".

I did some MDF picture frames in a similar way to what you describe earlier this year.
Here is what I did.
1. Sand timber to a reasonably fine finish.
2. Coat with light colour (I used pale grey) - when dry sand with fine sandpaper
3. Coat with final colour (I used dark green), making sure all recesses are well coated but leave highlights streaky, You can leave it quite blotchy if you want to
4. Sand back randomly the highlights and edges till light colour shows through in patches

Someone said I should apply a clear coat on top but I haven't done this.

The photo shows the final effect obtained. Unfortunately the final effect is not all that visible in this photo but everyone who sees the frame thinks its a 100 yr old frame

I'm not convinced I'd want to do my whole kitchen this way.

Practicing on scraps is a very good idea. I'd advise using a LARGE scrap, like a whole cupboard door size scrap. It's also only paint so you can paint over any mistakes.

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Thanks Bob. Although like your picture does show the full effect, neither does the one I have posted. Im not going to go as far as sanding through some colours to expose the colour underneith, but applying darker colours in an uneven fashion over the base coat. You make some great suggestions with the process. I think its best to play around and learn by trial and error. I do intend on giving it a few coats of clear polyurethane to protect and reserve the finish but what paint do I need to be using for the colours??

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Originally Posted by Jimbeam

Thanks Bob. Although like your picture does show the full effect, neither does the one I have posted. Im not going to go as far as sanding through some colours to expose the colour underneith, but applying darker colours in an uneven fashion over the base coat. You make some great suggestions with the process. I think its best to play around and learn by trial and error. I do intend on giving it a few coats of clear polyurethane to protect and reserve the finish but what paint do I need to be using for the colours??

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I agree - trial and error is the way to go. In terms of paint, I would use acrylic paint with a poly overcoat. My wife finds it very hard to decide on colours and with every room in our house a different colour (inlcuding red, green, yellow, blue, white, stone!) and in some cases 2 or 3 colours we have purchased at least a dozen sample pots per colour choice. This means I have many many colour sample pots in my shed to play with. My end results have always been after experimenting with a range of colour combinations, crackle glazing, sprays, rollers, different brushes, sponges and wipes etc. Last year I threw out a wheelie bin full of MDF "finishing experiments that were cluttering up my shed".

I think this finish is much more popular in the US - for the farmhouse kitchens in McMansion's??
Maybe some US based paint companies will have an online resource??

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Originally Posted by Clinton1

I think this finish is much more popular in the US - for the farmhouse kitchens in McMansion's??
Maybe some US based paint companies will have an online resource??

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I used to live in the US which is where I got the idea from. They do some amazing work and the craftsmanship is top notch not only in the kitchens but throughout the house. I want to thank you all for your input to this point. Think I might have Laminex give me a freebee to work on (we have a big contract with them). Please continue to post your comments on this as I am sure there are endless ways to treat kitchen panels and doors with hand painting.

Wattyl used to have (I think it was called) Estapol antique. Base coat of white or cream with wipe on overcoat of brown, green, red or tan which was wiped back off again leaving highlights in moldings, carvings etc. Very effective and exactly what you are looking for.

However I'm not sure if they still make it.

Cheers - Neil :)