Recreating Driftwood

Upon delivering the lazy susan from my post two weeks ago, the client and I were assessing the rest of her dining room. She has these great wicker dining chairs that are visually light and airy–fitting the beach vibe of her home perfectly. The only downside was that she didn’t like the yellow undertone of the color. When she saw the lazy susan, she asked if I could paint the chairs to match.

As mentioned in my previous post, I used Varathane stain in Sunbleached for the lazy susan. The chairs were already stained and sealed, so I needed to find a way to replicate the “driftwood” appearance using paint. I chose 3 different paint colors to pull out the tones I was looking for. First was a taupe that had rosy undertones. Next was a gray that had blue undertones. Finally, I chose a creamy white. The goal was to layer the paints randomly over the chairs, while still allowing a bit of the original color to blend into the mix.

I started with the taupe, and of all of the colors, I used the heaviest hand here. The original color showed through the recessed areas of the wicker, but most of the surface area received a coat of the taupe paint. Next, I used a dry brush technique to randomly apply the gray. Finally, I blended and softened all of the colors with the creamy white.