What would Royalview be without a crown, I ask? But you know what? I never really thought about a crown for Royalview. I just happened to be scrolling through FB and saw a post a few months ago about my friend Kelly’s new booth at Rosey Opals in New Waverly, and spotted this little cutie and knew immediately it was for Royalview.

In the photo of the crown, I could tell it was weathered. Must have been an outdoor decorative piece before, but I knew I wanted to give it new life for our indoor decor.

Once Willie cleaned off the chipping paint, it really revealed a lot of rust underneath. I knew I wanted to attempt my first ever gold leafing project, but it needed a fresh coat of paint first, so I began with white paint.

I now had a fresh surface to begin gold leafing Royalview’s crown. (Disclaimer: I am not a refinishing professional and do not have professional advice to administer. I am learning as I go, and all items are for our personal use in our private home.) I will tell you however, that all items I use are water based, so no harmful fumes. The paint used is an indoor acrylic paint and primer.

For the gold leafing, I used a product I found on Amazon, called Wadities Gold Leaf Gilding Set.

I’m so glad I found this kit for my very first go at gold leafing. It came with everything I needed. The Gilding Adhesive, the Gold Leaves themselves, each individually wrapped in paper, the Varnish, and 2 cute little paint brushes. And as you can see, everything is water based, so perfect!

I watched several YouTube videos before I began my project, just to get an idea of how it all works. Looks pretty simple, so let’s dive in!

Before applying the gold leafing, I had to apply the gilding adhesive. I didn’t want full coverage gold leafing. I wanted to achieve a worn look, so I applied the adhesive sparsely, here and there, both to the front side and inside areas, as you can see completely through the open crown. I knew that there was no way to remember where the adhesive had been applied, but I knew the applied areas would be tacky to the touch. After applying the adhesive, I had to wait for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, our first sheet is going on!

It was very easy to discern where I had applied the adhesive, as it was definitely tacky in those areas. I just took a sheet and touched it to the metal, and it stuck on contact, where the glue had been applied. I then took one of the little provided paint brushes and brushed over where I had applied the leafing.

It was surprisingly really fun! I was nervous at first, but it was so easy and I was not, in any way, trying to be perfect with the application, so I just went all-in placing gilding sheets everywhere, and not brushing everything until I had all the tacky areas covered.

You can see how random placement of the adhesive made it very easy to get a distressed, gilded look. The bits of gilding that do not stick, just flake away. I made sure to go over every surface area with the brush so that there was no more flaking.

After brushing it all down, I let it sit for the recommended 24 hours before applying the varnish top coat to seal it all in.

Applying the varnish was just as easy as everything else in this project, and it did not have a strong smell, which is a definite bonus.

And we’re all varnished!

I’m super happy with the outcome, and the entire gold leafing process. So fun, and so easy. Willie really likes it to. He gave a big smile when he came in and saw it, and said it looked really good. So yay! 2 happy customers!

And now Royalview’s crown is displayed upon our living room coffee table, filled with (faux) white hydrangeas.

Love, love, love! I didn’t know how it would look after I got hold of it, but I’m certainly glad I was brave and gave it a try!

What project are you inspired to try? Do you love upcycling too? Feel free to leave a comment!

Till next time, always follow your joy! God is truly good!

Johanna and Willie

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Home Decor, Upcycling, Trash to Treasure, Vintage Finds, Before and After Makeover, Gold Leafing, Gilding, On Metal, Easy DIY Project