A couple years ago, Jason and I made a trip to Waco to visit Magnolia…
Inside I was mesmerized by all the zinc finishes and I was determined to replicate the look in a faux zinc finish. There were metal bowls, tiered trays and plant stands! We then ventured across the way to The Foundery, inside I found the most lovely metal tables I had ever seen. I knew I had a table back in Iowa that would be a perfect fit for all this zinc finish inspiration I had received!
Metal is a great way to add a natural element into a space. Having a tabletop covered in metal and aged can be quite pricey. A good alternative is to create a faux zinc finish on a table you already have. I do recommend finding one that has a nice “beefy” top so it looks realistic. I already had this one and it was the perfect style for this zinc finish.
I started out with a shellac base primer and then a coat of Dixie Belle Hurricane Gray
Once the primer and basecoat was dry I applied layers of silver paint, custom tinted in different tones, to get the zinc effect. I made a great video on how I did this layer that you can view here:
Zinc Table Top Finish 1
You can actually stop at this point if you want. I like all the extra layers, but it’s up to you. I wrote a blog post about my range hood where I just did a simple zinc finish. You can read about it here
I then used Modern Masters Metal Effects Iron Paint and Rust Activator to get the rusty areas on the table. I just kept working with it until I had it the way I wanted. You can view the video for this layer here:
Zinc Table Top Finish 2
Once all the rust was done and dry, I then went back over it with a dark glaze to give it an aged effect.
Zinc finish after it’s had multiple layers added.
A good thing to remember is that “layers create depth”. So the more layers you add, the more realistic your finish is going to look. You can watch the last video of how I created this finish here:
Zinc Table Top Finish 3
The finished zinc table from a couple different angles