Rub’n’Buff Elevated These Thrifted Sconces!
Comin at ya with another super budget friendly but big impact DIY! This time its lighting, sconces to be exact. I found this amazing pair at the thrift store for $14 each. They had SO much potential.
They were actually designed for electrical but the wiring has been removed.
I loved the design and large size of these, all they needed was a little extra nudge to become something spectacular. Enter Rub’n’Buff! Several folks I know have used this on different little projects and I’ve always been curious to try it. Since gold leafing these would be a nightmare (hello crevices and awkward angles) I thought this was the perfect opportunity to give a go.
I actually ordered 2 colors. The one above is the Gold Leaf and the other is European Gold.
*Tip: Pay attention to how much you order. I was shocked how tiny the tubes were when they arrived. This is a makeup brush for size reference, its also the brush I used to do the project.
I played around with the colors and felt the Gold Leaf was a bit too bright and the European gold was too dark.
In the photo left is the European Gold and right is the Gold Leaf.
So I decided to mix them, 50/50. It ended up giving me the perfect antiqued gold color and I was able to use both tubes which helped with the small quantity I bought.
I started on the backplate to get a feel for how I wanted to apply it. I still wanted the antique feel by letting some of the dark show through.
Something I hadn’t noticed before was the “Mexico” stamp on the back until after I covered it in the Rub’n’buff. A cool little feature.
This is the first one done. You can see how I left some see through areas and didn’t completely cover it. I did this by dabbing the paint on vs painting it. Also of note, the color is showing lighter here, its actually a much warmer deeper tone, less than ideal lighting.
I was really happy with this and immediately went to work on the second.
Here you can see what a big difference there is. The details pop so much more in the gold finish really highlighting the beautiful craftsmanship.
There was some residual red on the candle areas which you can kind of see. I actually liked that!
Unfortunately I ran out with just a teensy bit left to do so I had to reorder both colors and wait. Eventually I got the second one finished and decided to put them here.
This is another new to me piece, an antique armoire I found on FBM for $150. The sconces beautifully frame the armoire creating a full visual picture vs just the armoire here by itself.
The details are gorgeous and really stand out along with the imperfections, which make my eyes happy.
One day maybe I will have them wired again for use but for now, I think some battery operated candles do the trick.
Looking at how they turned out it makes me wonder how many folks walked by these and didn’t give them a second look? When all they needed was a little freshening up. It took me a few hours start to finish and approximately 1 1/2 tubes of both colors (so a roughly a total of 3) to complete these. Not too shabby I’d say.
What do you think? The overall process was easy, so much so I used the leftover paint to do a plant stand base. Now I may have a new addiction haha. Have you ever used Rub’n’buff? What was your experience?
I always love to hear from you so hit me up in the comments with your thoughts!
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