How to Distress a Milk Bottle Basket...

 

I purchased a heavy reproduction milk bottle basket at the thrift store for $3.00...

It was a brown color with a light wood handle. It looked new and I wanted it to look old, so I'll show you how I distressed it...

 I wanted an old fashioned vintage green, so I used a really simple and quick paint layering technique.

 

I didn't prime it, or anything. Not priming it makes the paint distress easier...

 I just used simple and cheap acrylic paint. I used an ivory color and a turquoise color and I used a simple green scrubbie to distress it...

 

 

I used a cheap chip brush and I used a stippling technique to just bounce the paint onto the metal.

I started with the ivory. I stippled some on and then dabbed it with a paper towel.

 

 

Then I bounced some turquoise color on top of the ivory...

It's a messy process, but it is a quick process...

 

I used the plastic scrubby to rough across the paint. Then I used a piece of sand paper to really rough up all the edges when the paint was completely dry. 

To seal it and give it a dirty antique look, I covered it with dark wax and subtracted the wax with some clear wax.

I let the wax dry for about an hour and then I buffed it to a sheen with a soft polishing cloth.

 The end result was a wonderfully distressed, chippy, vintage green paint color...

 The color compliments my beautiful "Peony Tulips" that I got from "Breck's"  last fall and planted around my front patio.

 

They look beautiful out my kitchen window...

They're quite Enchanting ~ like something from an English Garden, or a Fairy Tale...

They're ensuring I have a "Beautiful Spring"~!

=)