Industrial Faux Aged Metal Box- Monthly DIY Challenge

Happy February! It's time for the best part of the month! February's Monthly DIY Challenge is metallic paint. I gotta tell ya, I had a lot of trouble coming up with an idea for this one at first. But then we finally started working on our laundry/pantry project again (phew!), and it reminded me of my love for that old industrial look, and I was suddenly re-inspired! I decided to make a faux aged metal wooden storage box that will probably end up sitting on one of the pantry shelves. I love it so much, I may make one for recipes too!

If you're not familiar with the Monthly DIY Challenge, the second Wednesday of every month, some of my blog friends and I get together to each create something out of a common item or theme. We've been doing it for over a year now, and it is so much fun! We've had some really awesome challenges like the wood slice challenge and the wooden crate challenge (a couple of my faves!). You can see all of the past challenges here.

Alrighty, so to make one of these faux aged metal boxes, you will need....
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-Wooden file box-Black acrylic paint-Silver metallic paint-stiff brushes (such as a stencil brush)-kraft paper
I found my wooden box at Michaels (find many other sizes and shapes on Amazon). 

I gave it a quick coat of paint with some black acrylic craft paint. 

Then I used a dry brushing technique to give it an aged metal look. I used a stencil brush and a cheap chip brush from Home Depot to dry brush in a cross hatch pattern. After dipping in silver metallic paint, I lightly dragged the brush in one direction and then the other. 

Dry brushing means to just barely dip the brush in paint and then lightly swipe it across the project surface. You can achieve some really great looks with this method (like my awesome DIY bar cart or the purple and grey chalk painted dresser). 

Then I searched for a great typewriter font to help achieve that old vibe I was going for. I plan to store important instruction manuals in this box. So I printed the word "Manuals" on some brown kraft paper. I cut it to size and inserted it in the metal label holder. If the box you purchase doesn't have label holders, you can find some here. You could easily attach them with super glue!

I can't wait for you to see the other great metallic paint projects! Click the links below!

*This post may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosure policy.