On the hunt for a TV cabinet, I spotted a piece from This End Up at Diversity Thrift that would work nicely. It was sturdy. It was serviceable. And, at $25, it was cheap.
But it was very This End Uppy, with a dull-brown stain. I decided to apply a black-over-red crackle finish that would give the cabinet antique credentials. I bought all the materials — the primer, paint, crackle goop and lacquer — and assiduously followed the instructions.
When I was finished, I stepped back and frowned. It did not look like a rustic piece salvaged from a barn. It looked like a 6-year-old with poor motor skills had been told to paint a This End Up cabinet.
The crackle pattern only showed up in patches. Here and there, paint had wrinkled where it pulled away from the crackle coat.
What did I do wrong? I called local faux-finish pro Sunny Goode, founder of Sunny’s Goodtime Paints, to find out.
Goode prefers to use crackle only under two or more layers of paint, for a more subtle antiquing effect. Following her advice, I painted black over my haphazard attempt at faux finishing. Finally, it looks good. Sort of like a This End Up cabinet salvaged from an old barn.
