Making a new crate look old

First off let me  put a disclaimer on here. I am not a professional nor do I profess to be one, but I was pretty
happy with the way these crates turned out. I am not that great at tutorials either because face it gals,
I paint with my right hand so I can't paint and snap a photo at the same time , but I have tried to show you
step by step what I did. I do hope that you get some good out of it and try it on your own new crates.

Okay first off I started with two crates like the one shown above and also a smaller one.
I picked the larger ones up at a garage sale this summer and the smaller one at Goodwill.

Isn't that quite a difference?? Finished product on the top and original one on the bottom.

First, I painted it all with white paint {see I told you...I am NOT good at tutorials. I forgot
to put that picture on here! oops} Hopefully you don't need that step. I just painted the crate
very loosely  with some of the original color still showing through.

{I used  eggshell/satin *country cloud* from Walmart.  BHG brand that I have had for a couple years}

Then I got out my *drizzle grey* paint and my antiquing medium in
*apple butter brown*.

{truth be told I have had this antiquing medium FOREVER}

You can't tell it very well here {in fact I wonder if it is the right photo!}, but I just loosely painted the gray on concentrating on some of the spots that didn't get the white paint, but kinda overall as well.

Then it was time to antique it. The brown antiquing medium was thick just like paint, so I put some
in a cup and added water until it was runny. I slathered it on with another paintbrush...again here and
there. Some spots got more than others.

Then I wiped it all off and wa -la!! Instant old looking crate. I was kinda scared to do the antiquing because
I thought I might not like it so I tried it on the bottom first and decided it was a GO!!!

Two finished crates that I think look so much better than when I started.

{Yep, I recycle my old McDonalds cups. They work great for paint or for cleaning brushes out!!}

Please let me know if you try this technique and how it turned out. I will say that my gray paint seemed to
be thinner than most paint and I am sure that worked to my advantage. I could even wipe some of that off
 if I thought there was too much on.  I have had a fun morning making these crates over. {I also
painted a chair, but that was not so fun! ha!}

HAPPY MONDAY and enjoy your week!