Distressed White Architectural Piece

When Debbie from Confessions of a Plate Addict found an interesting architectural piece at Goodwill for $1.91 a couple years ago, she snatched it up right away.

She didn’t love the bright color combo but quickly fixed that with a coat of grey chalk paint. Since then the piece has been used to hold objects like book stacks and shells, but Debbie still didn’t feel the grey was jiving with her décor.

She was inspired by a decorative pedestal from Ballard and knew a distressed white finish was just what her thrifty find needed. It’s amazing the big difference a simple coat of paint can make!

What’s so nice about this make-over story is how Debbie was actually able to find new purposes for this piece once she changed the paint color and gave it the distressed style.

In her case, she went with a lighter color. Using white chalk paint, she partially (well, mostly just not totally) painted it white.

Underneath was her previous paint job in gray. Putting the white over while letting some of the gray still show through gave her the perfect ‘old age’ look.

This lighter color also fit her decor better, but in reality this kind of piece probably does look best being lighter. For starters, it helps whatever is placed on top just pop more. Flowers, books or even an interesting pot with a green plant.

Keep an eye out for little plaster architectural pieces like this at second hard stores. They can be a real treasure. You can find them in various heights – they are often referred to as pedestals. And any height or shape will be a treat to paint and introduce into your own classical decor.

Debbie was inspired by the Medici Capital from Ballard Designs. The way that Debbie “weathered” hers really gives it a depth of interest that the Ballard version just doesn’t have. Good job, Debbie.

Read more at Confessions of a Plate Addict, where you can see her entire evolution from how she found it to the two color/treatment iterations she went through to get to her final result.