The Navy Door

Decorate. Repurpose. Restore.

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How To Apply Silver Leafing To a Wall

There are many ways to accent your walls either by paint, wallpaper, artwork or mirrors. I had a client that wanted to give her business a unique look, so after doing some research, I thought that leafing would be the perfect look for The Wink Beauty Lounge in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Before:

We first started by removing the mirror, light fixture, and the shelving off the wall. For this project we were working with about 18 feet of wall, leaving the pink as the background. I decided that we needed a bulk size of leafing along with Wunda Size (used to adhere leafing to surface) to tackle this job. I ordered my products from The Gold Leaf Company based out of New York and spoke with a man named Steve that was very helpful in the ordering process. I ordered a gallon of the Wunda Size, one silver role, and one gold roll of genuine leafing. The gold roll was 4 inches wide and has 69 feet of leafing, the silver roll was 6 inches and the same length. I opted for the rolls because I was covering a large surface at one time which is easier to apply than individual sheets.

In the picture below, on the left side, you can see how textured the wall is, which wasn’t totally helpful but ended up working out just fine in the end. Pictured on the right-hand side is a small piece of what the leafing roll looks like to give you a better idea of what you would be working with.

Now, I want to tell you we did order both colors because we originally thought we are going to rotate in between gold and silver on this wall. But after testing out a small surface we decided just to go with the silver which was definitely the better choice for this project.

Prep Work:

I started out by using Green FrogTape, I bought from Home Depot, around the sidewalls and baseboards, to ensure I didn’t affect the walls I was not working on. I divided the wall out into 6-inch and 4-inch increments knowing that I would only be applying leafing to every other section. I used a straight ruler to draw a light line, with a watercolor pencil, down the wall, as a guide for the leafing. I used a watercolor pencil in case I messed up, that way I was able to wipe the line clean and re-draw. By drawing out the lines first, this helped save on the product as I only applied the sizing to the areas that I was going to apply the leafing on.

Wunda Size 15-minute is specially formulated for every type of gold or silver leaf work. Its tack time is 15 minutes and will hold its tack for 24 to 30 hours depending upon atmosphere and surface conditions. Before applying transfer gilding (leafing), make sure that the surface has been coated with Wunda Size (also known as sizing). It is important that this has dried to the right degree of tackiness to ensure that the gold adheres properly to the surface. Different types have different setting times, so follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Sizing may be applied with a brush or spray gun, no thinning is necessary. Be sure to clean the brush or a spray gun in water rather than in lacquer thinner.

Application:

I’m not gonna lie, the leafing was a little hard to work with in the beginning, but after you get the hang of it, it goes on pretty quickly and easily. Make sure to wear some latex gloves and try to handle each piece by the tissue paper avoiding to touch the leafing. It is also easier, especially when you first start working with this product, to only handle a smaller section at a time. The great thing about leafing is that if you miss a spot you can go back in with another small piece and cover it up. Whatever doesn’t stick to the sizing will fall off, and blends in flawlessly.

Final Steps :

Here’s what the wall looked like right after I was done applying the leafing. I did go back through and highlighted each of the lines with a silver Sharpie oil-based Paint Marker, that I found at Michaels, which gave it a little more dimension. After letting this product dry for over a week I went back through and applied a Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane Gloss Oil-Based to the leafing. If you have a light color wall like this pink, the polyurethane may yellow the paint. In this case, you would have to sand the yellowing down, clean it with Krud Kutter, I got this one from Home Depot. I used the adhesive remover because it is one of their most powerful versions of this product that they have, then paint over it with a latex-based paint to remove/cover the yellowing.

Well, what do you think? I loved the way the accent wall turned out. It looks great with all of her furniture and mirrors and is as unique as her salon. Please let me know if you have any questions about this project, as I am happy to help!

Xo Christine

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Knobs, Knobs, Knobs!

I consider myself to be a smart shopper. Don’t get me wrong I like really nice things and I’m willing to spend the money, but if I can save myself some of it, I’m all about that too. I realized after I painted my cabinets I would need hardware for them, but didn’t realize that you could easily spend a few hundred dollars on a piece of metal that opened and closed your cabinet door.

I looked on all the major sites that you could think of for the knobs that I wanted and of course, at the time I couldn’t find them in the color I was looking for, the story of my life! I happened to be at Target and spotted these hammered looking knobs that I loved, but only came in silver. They were on clearance, so I thought I could just paint them. I also found this half-moon drawer handle at JoAnn Fabric, that I also had to have. The two places that I would have never thought I would find the handle for my house, but there they were.

Here are the knobs I bought from Target. It is a little hard to tell but these knobs have a hammered look to them, you will be able to see the difference in the finished picture.

I unpackaged these knobs and stood them up on a wooden skewer that you might use for chicken kabobs. They are cheap and I already had them at home! I stuck them in a block of styrofoam while I sprayed them, and let them dry there as well. I took them out of the styrofoam, while still on the stick and lightly touched up a few spots that I had missed. I used Krylon Foil metallic copper spray paint that I found at Pat Cantans. Although this store is no longer in business, I attached a link for Walmart, where I found it for the same price.

After giving these items time to dry, I coated them with Zinsser Bulls Eye Shellac in clear from Home Depot. Be sure to follow the directions on the back of this bottle, because if you tend to get too close you will get a different finish, but I still went with this product because it is extremely durable for everyday usage.

These half-moon handles are from JoAnn Fabric, and although they were not on clearance, I was able to save some cash by using their coupons that you can find on their website or their app. I simply laid these handles out in a shallow box with newspaper and sprayed each handle to match the knobs, and added the same shellac sealer to finish out this project.

After two days of letting these knobs and handles dry, we attached them to the brand new kitchen cabinets that I refinished, and my bathroom cabinets. I love the way they turned out! Please let me know if you have any questions on this project, I would love to hear from you!

Xo Christine