DIY Faux Antique Finish: Globe

A few months ago I shared my deals from the Kane County FleaMarket trip.

I nabbed a globe I had been on the hunt for all summer –with a great price of about 15 bucks.
Globes seem to be all the rage this year, and I wanted a piece of the action.

But, it was a little too “blue” for my liking. I needed to add something to it--make it look less classroom and more vintage. Faux antique finish coming right up...

I started with the base. I hosed off all the flea market grime, and then whipped out my all-time favorite spray paint; Rustoleum’s Oil Rubbed Bronze and went to town.

my assistant...supervising as usual.

The easy part was done.

I got out my stash of craft paints and modge podge and did some mixing, testing, more mixing and waiting until I could find a color I thought would work. I did my tests on a magazine cover since it had a similar glossy finish as the globe. I thought I would at the least get an idea of how it would turn out.

I ended up with about 2 parts Mod Podge Matte, and one part mixture of a few different brown/bronzey shades of acrylic paints.

I used a mini foam paint roller from Hobby Lobby.

 And...I rolled my homemade mixture all over the globe, trying to avoid any big globs, but also making sure I applied it unevenly.

I wanted it to look like it was stored in grandma’s attic for 30 years instead of straight out of a 4th grade social studies class.

My globe found a home in the living room, but may find its way up to our loft. I keep moving things around lately. Plus, the loft is getting some new life (to be revealed soon!)

In the end, I am happy with the turn out. I wanted to do this as a test for my bigger project, my map from the same flea market. But, I am not sure if I want to use the same method to antique it.

Any faux antique glaze tips or suggestions?

Did you jump on the globe bandwagon this year?

Kane County Flea Market shopping experience

Last weekend I took a day trip to the Kane County Flea Market with my mom to see what kind of deals & steals we could bring home. Although we are flea market queens, we hadn’t made it to the Kane County Flea market in years. We weren’t sure what to expect.

We arrived right at noon (Saturday it’s only open 12-5) and it was already packed. A majority of the fairgrounds was filled with vendors, even most of the barns.  We started outside thinking we would save the indoor vendors for when we needed to cool down. It was about 90 degrees and sunny. So we anticipated needing a break from the sun.

goodies at July Kane County Flea Market

My mom and I guessed there were approximately 500ish vendors this weekend. Maybe more, maybe less. Booths were filled with beautiful furniture, vintage treasures, fun junk-type finds, jewelry, food…really anything you can imagine.  We spent the first two hours trying to navigate the layout and going in and out of booths. We were able to make a few purchases and the dealers gave us great deals without too much haggling required.

We both seriously considered taking a few of these home with us...maybe next time!

stacked rock fountains!

Double gorgeous ombre dressers

old tables at Kane County Flea Market, July 2013

We took a late lunch snack break at one of the food stands then finished walking the fairgrounds.  After we thought we had walked the entire flea market we went back for the items we couldn’t decide on earlier. We made a few deals and then pulled the car in to load up our treasures.


Where: Kane County Flea Market, located at the fairgrounds in St. Charles, IL 
When: It's always the first Sunday of each month and the Saturday before, March-December.

Want to see my loot?

Large wicker basket, old green file box, Globe & stand, vintage school map.

 Want to know how much I spent?

$45 bucks for all of it. Yep. Deals!
The globe/stand and the vintage school map are both getting some makeovers before they find their spots in the house. But the basket and tin file box just need to be cleaned up.

Been to any flea markets lately?
Have you ever been to Kane County Flea Market?