I have been working on our island conversion for a few weeks now and I am finally gettting to the final touches on everything I wanted the piece to look authentically old, that was my main goal. I bought new apothecary hardware from Amazon and absolutely LOVED the design. What I didn’t love was how new they looked. They didn’t match the age of the rest of the piece and I kinda thought I was doomed. That was until I ran across this product shared by The Vintage Porch. It’s a Rust finish metal effects kit by Modern Masters. It was a very simple and effective 3‑step process that completely changed the game.
These are the two products I started with
Per the directions on the box, start by painting your hardware with 2 coats of PRIMER, allowing 30 minutes dry-time between each coat. It gave my hardware a nice rusty color without the actual rust, if that makes sense. Either way, it made me super excited!
![](https://i0.wp.com/roostandrestore.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/diy-rusty-hardware3.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/roostandrestore.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/diy-rusty-hardware-primer.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
Once dry, apply 2 coats of the iron oxidizing paint with 30 minutes of dry time in between coats. I could have set timers and been super technical about the whole process but I would apply a coat, walk away to work on something else and come back later. It was basically a really thin watery black color. I was kinds iffy about it but the end result really turned out beautifully!
![](https://i0.wp.com/roostandrestore.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/diy-rusty-hardware2.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/roostandrestore.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/diy-rusty-hardware4.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
The third and final stage of the process was to spray the dry hardware with the rust activator. Y’all, this is where the magic happens! As the activator dries, real-life rust will actually appear! My mind was blown, maybe you’ve heard of this stuff before but I sure hadn’t. This could be a total game changer, especially when you’re going for a nice vintage or aged feel.
![](https://i0.wp.com/roostandrestore.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/diy-rusty-hardware-rust2.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/roostandrestore.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/diy-rusty-hardware-rust.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
-SAVE THIS PROJECT-
![](https://i0.wp.com/roostandrestore.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Untitled-22.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
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[…] any sense to you but that is literally the phrase I have been using to describe my vision. Rusty hardware (that I also DIY’d HERE) , chippy paint…you name it. This has presented itself to be quite the challenge but I was […]
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