Skip to Content

Painting Old Metal Vintage Pieces

Painting old metal made a world of difference on this vintage canning colander I found and made over into farmhouse holiday decor.

I love to find old things, especially metal pieces that I can fix, or paint and repurpose into something pretty.

This time I think I found something really unique. I created a nice holiday decor piece that I love and will probably use each year!

Can chalk paint be used on metal? You bet! I am going to show you how I painted this metal piece and still kept its rustic look that makes it so charming.

If you love DIY metal projects you can click here to find more metal crafts inspiration!

Finished painted canning colandar

Painting Old Metal

This vintage canning colander stood out to me at our local thrift store for $3 and I found it very interesting.  

I thought it would make a great “vase”.  

With the holes it can’t be a real vase but I thought a nice arrangement of faux holiday sprigs, ornaments and snowflakes would be nice.

Supplies you will need:

  • Vintage metal piece – something you love and want to preserve
  • Chalk paint – I used three colors
  • Sanding Block
  • Brushes
  • Clear Cream Wax
  • Soft Cloth

This is how it looked to start out.

Trash-To-Treasure-Farmhouse-Holiday-Decor - www.michellejdesigns - I love to recycle and re-use when ever I can. I bought this vintage canner piece a few months ago and it has been reborn as a container to hold this beautiful holiday arrangement.

Step 1: Add some color

While painting old metal, I wanted to keep it looking old but wanted to add some color too.

 The first coat of paint was a green chalky finish paint.

Trash-To-Treasure-Farmhouse-Holiday-Decor - www.michellejdesigns - I love to recycle and re-use when ever I can. I bought this vintage canner piece a few months ago and it has been reborn as a container to hold this beautiful holiday arrangement.

The second was a mint color.

Trash-To-Treasure-Farmhouse-Holiday-Decor - www.michellejdesigns - I love to recycle and re-use when ever I can. I bought this vintage canner piece a few months ago and it has been reborn as a container to hold this beautiful holiday arrangement.

And the third was a white chalky paint.

Trash-To-Treasure-Farmhouse-Holiday-Decor - www.michellejdesigns - I love to recycle and re-use when ever I can. I bought this vintage canner piece a few months ago and it has been reborn as a container to hold this beautiful holiday arrangement.

The light green and the white were just slapped on quickly.  I did not even try to cover it completely.

Step 2: Distress the paint

I distressed it with a sanding block to bring a little bit more of the green back.  

I still wanted to keep the rustic look and distressing the paint is the best way to keep that look.

Step 3: Finish it up

It finished it with a coat of clear wax then buffed it with a soft cloth.

Step 4: Adding some holiday cheer

I purchased two different holiday spruce floral sprigs and some white glitter snowflakes.  And I added some red ornaments that I already had.

I think it looks really pretty!

Trash-To-Treasure-Farmhouse-Holiday-Decor - www.michellejdesigns - I love to recycle and re-use when ever I can. I bought this vintage canner piece a few months ago and it has been reborn as a container to hold this beautiful holiday arrangement.

Painting Old Metal Vintage Pieces

Finished canning colander piece.

Painting old metal made a world of difference on this vintage canning colander I found and made over into farmhouse holiday decor.

Active Time 1 hour
Additional Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Estimated Cost $0 - $15

Tools

  • Paint Brush
  • Sanding Block

Instructions

  1. Paint the colors in layers. Start with green, add the vintage (teal), and then the white. Let dry between layers
  2. Use the sanding block to distress and give back the vintage look
  3. Add the cream wax then buff off with a soft cloth.
  4. Add Christmas decor and enjoy

Trash-To-Treasure-Farmhouse-Holiday-Decor - www.michellejdesigns - I love to recycle and re-use when ever I can. I bought this vintage canner piece a few months ago and it has been reborn as a container to hold this beautiful holiday arrangement.

Trash-To-Treasure-Farmhouse-Holiday-Decor - www.michellejdesigns - I love to recycle and re-use when ever I can. I bought this vintage canner piece a few months ago and it has been reborn as a container to hold this beautiful holiday arrangement.
Trash-To-Treasure-Farmhouse-Holiday-Decor - www.michellejdesigns - I love to recycle and re-use when ever I can. I bought this vintage canner piece a few months ago and it has been reborn as a container to hold this beautiful holiday arrangement.

It turned out nice and am happy that I finally got to painting this old metal piec. 

Some of the rust is still there to show it is old.  To me, this adds some vintage charm to the piece and really does create a nice farmhouse holiday decor feel.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Michelle

Milk-Paint - www.michellejdesigns.com - I love this piece even more now that it has this beautiful Buttermilk Old Fashioned Milk Paint.
How To Create a Wooden Star - www.michellejdesigns.com - learn how to make a rustic, wooden Christmas star for your Holiday decor

Wooden Star

Beth Buss

Thursday 26th of November 2020

Darling for Xmas, Michelle.

Michelle

Thursday 26th of November 2020

Thank you Beth! Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Lorelai @ Life With Lorelai

Friday 2nd of December 2016

Hey, Michelle! Just wanted to let you know that we loved your Farmhouse Holiday Decor so much when you shared it at the #HomeMattersParty last week, we've FEATURED it THIS WEEK! Hope you can check it out when you get a sec. Happy Friday!!! http://lifewithlorelai.com/2016/12/01/home-matters-linky-party-114/

~Lorelai Life With Lorelai / Home Matters Linky Party

Michelle

Friday 2nd of December 2016

Hi Lorelai! I did see it and I am so excited. Thanks so much for the feature!!!

Kim Clark

Friday 2nd of December 2016

I love your blog and those Trash to treasure posts Michelle. They all turned out so lovely. I love how you redecorate this canning colander. It's inspiring. Thanks for your sharing and happy holiday :)

Michelle

Friday 2nd of December 2016

Thank you Kim. I appreciate your kind words. I love this thing and it was a fun project!

Thomas

Thursday 24th of November 2016

I am happy you did not paint the whole colander. I love the way it looks. Thanks for sharing.

Michelle

Friday 25th of November 2016

Thank you. This was a fun and easy project.

Kimm at Reinvented

Thursday 17th of November 2016

Oh my gosh, Michelle, this is amazing! I NEED a canning colander just like this. LOVE the paint job too! Thank you so much for joining the T2T blog hop!

Michelle

Friday 18th of November 2016

Thanks Kimm. I had so much fun joining in the blog hop and was glad I got it together and painted this guy. I love the way it turned out. I had to hide it for a while though because my cat keeps trying to eat the Hobby Lobby greens.

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons
Skip to Instructions