Disclaimer: I received free product from Decoart for this project. All opinions and projects are my own.

Do you have something ugly and ceramic? Man. I do. I was given this pitcher years ago.


I love the shape, but the finish is cracked, and the flowers aren't really doing anything for me.





Honestly, it's been collecting dust for years on a bookshelf. I wanted to use it, but I was stumped on what to do with it to make it more "me". I was afraid that whatever I did would only chip off later. But then I realized that Americana Decor Chalky Finish paint (from Decoart) was supposed to adhere to ceramic, so I thought why not?

I grabbed a container of Relic, a dark gray, and went to work. I wanted a good level of coverage on this (no ugly flowers were going to lift their heads again), so I did 2 coats of the gray. After only one coat, I knew that this was really going to work—it already looked so much better. In fact, I was originally going to stencil a design on the gray in a blue, and I liked the gray so much I decided to keep things really simple with just the gray. I kept the interior the original white.

But I stopped and considered...should I go with a simple chalky finish or should I wax the whole thing? And should I use clear wax or brown wax? I tested a small area with the clear wax. It goes on white, which freaked me out a little.

But when it dries (and it dries quickly!), it has a low sheen, even without polishing. I was in love, so I put a full coat of the clear. It's lovely in all its simplicity, but I was looking for something a little more, especially when I saw these cast iron bowls at RestorationHardware. And these troughs, also from RH. I love how the cast iron is simple and gray, but there is a warmth in that gray that I thought I could capture with brown wax. So one light coat of brown wax later, and we had perfection. There is a light texture from the brush strokes there—which makes my pitcher look handglazed, or even metal like.

So now, instead of hiding in a back room bookcase, I think it'll make it to my mantel really soon!