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Faux Hammered Copper Tutorial

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Today’s project was born out of necessity. I have a piece of furniture that is fine in its own right, but that needed some tweaking to make it suitable for its current prominent location in our front entry. For a bit of enlightenment as to the situation surrounding this piece, refer to the letter below.



You see, the table in question was purchased in my naive, before-kids days. I am sure those of you with children remember those days, when you could decorate and buy to your heart’s content, never thinking of the  havoc that can be wreaked by pint-sized hands.

Needless to say, those days are behind me. 😉

So. Here was my issue with this table. As stated in the letter above, the glass-paneled doors were constantly smudged with hand/fingerprints and who-knows-what-else. The fact that this piece needed to earn its keep by storing all of our board games, yet the transparency of the doors made the act of doing so a true eyesore, made it obvious that something needed to be tweaked.

Oh. See those baskets on the right? That actually used to be another door just like the others until an unfortunate accident caused one to be shattered (five years ago), and I never got around to getting it fixed. I think the baskets do just fine, thank you! Although I would love to get around to making liners for them one of these days.
 It must be something from my New Mexico upbringing, but I adore the look and texture of hammered metal. In figuring a way to upgrade the doors of the piece easily, I started looking into purchasing hammered copper ceiling tiles that I could trim down to fit in the opening of each door. Two problems there: (1) The panels were difficult to find locally and (2) It was nearly impossible to find a place to order them online that didn’t force me to buy in bulk.


So, in typical Amy fashion, I put on my thinking cap for how to achieve the look I wanted without having to spend a fortune. And then I saw this gorgeous tutorial on All Things Thrifty using paintable wallpaper. Eureka!

I removed the glass panels from the doors to measure them, and then I had the lovely guys and Lowes trim me two pieces of thin MDF (3 mm thick, I believe) to fit the opening. I covered each piece in paintable wallpaper in a ceiling tile pattern from Lowes, making sure the pattern on each door lined up precisely. After allowing the paper to dry overnight, I sprayed each one with Valspar metallic copper paint. Once they were dry, I tucked each one in place of the glass panels (my doors were outfitted with knobs to hold the pieces in place). That was it!


It’s a subtle change, but it makes my heart happy to have things look so much tidier!

I can see so many other uses for the panels I created here. They would make gorgeous wall art, or backsplashes in vignettes on mantels or tabletops. My creative wheels are turning!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Comments

  5. Kara says

    As soon as I saw the photo, I knew just what you had used. I saw that wallpaper at Lowes last week. LOL!
    It turned out just amazing!! And I like the look of the baskets on the side. 🙂

  13. VickiT says

    Oh what a great idea. I saw this and right away my mind was racing. I wonder how this idea could be applied to a kitchen ceiling so it would look like those old tin tiled ceilings. I wonder if applying it to a thin wood and then framing each wood piece with metal trim and then installing that onto a ceiling if it would look good or anything like those old tin ceilings? I have always wanted one of them in my kitchen but wow are those tin replica tiles expensive. This could be a solution. hmmmmmm How I wish I were back ten years ago when my legs would have allowed me to try it. Heck back then, I’d already be out the door on my way to buying the stuff to try it out. LOL

  14. Allie says

    Perfect!! I’ve seen that post on her blog before. She is a genius sometimes. This is such a great way to use that idea! Love how it turned out!

  17. Colleen @ MuralMaker&More says

    I so love this – I don’t know where to start! Ok, first with the letter to yourself. Too cute 😀 But the wallpaper thing? LOVE it! I’m lookin’ around for something to cover w/it – ha!