How to Antique New Galvanized Metal - Get The Look For Less!

I absolutely love the authentic natural patina of vintage metal pieces, but they can be a bit pricey! I've been collecting rusty garden accessories and decor for years and recently I scored a handful of olive buckets at Target for $5 on clearance! (Not to mention several adorable metal accessories out of the Target Dollar Spot. My guiltiest pleasure!) You just can't beat the $5 price and the buckets were just precious! My only hesitation was that they were just a little too new looking. And so commenced: Operation: Rusty Buckets. :)

I've seen tons of tutorials on Pinterest and blogs and I knew I wanted to give this DIY a try. I also want to be completely transparent in my trials and errors during this process! Spoiler Alert: I had some major fails! Rusty antiques can take years to acquire their perfectly aged patinas, but hopefully my tips can help you to speed up the process if you love the look as much as I do.

Galvanized metal is usually composed of zinc or iron with a steal coating sealed on top to prevent it from rusting. There are some products that you can use to remove this protective top coat and kick start the natural aging process. What I have learned through many, many, many attempts is that your success is ultimately determined by the actual make-up of the item you're trying to alter. You can have all the corrosive products in the world, but unless your bucket is prepped correctly AND is indeed made of a galvanized product - your attempts may be futile, as mine were! Your results can also vary drastically depending on the item and length of treatment. I've seen my pieces appear to only have a duller finish, with a full rusty patina and even end up with a foggy white finish. All were pleasing! Just be prepared for varying results. And just think of how unique your project will be! Not a single identical one like yours in the world! ;)

So here's what I started with and the look I was aiming to achieve:

Here are a few of the bulk products I had on hand to begin the aging process. There a few items I experimented with that are NOT PICTURED! (Lysol and Clorox toilet bowl cleaner, Zep Acidic toilet bowl cleaner, pre-mixed salt water, salt block, steel wool, tap water and rain water.)

You will also need gloves, a few utility spray bottles and buckets large enough to fully submerse your items in.

Items pictured: Bleach, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, muriatic acid.

Links to purchase all supplies at the bottom of the post!

My initial attempts to age my buckets to the extent I wanted were unsuccessful. I removed the rope handles and started by spraying them down with several coats of a muriatic acid and water solution. (Make sure you wear gloves and protective clothing if you're working with this product!) I repeated this process twice and barely noticed any changes. After the second try, I decided to take it up a notch and I scrubbed the buckets with steel wool, but this time I coated them with several coats of pure muriatic acid. 

Still no changes.

My third attempt was to spray them with salt water and let them sit outside in the elements and rain to see I could see any progress at all. After four days outside - nothing.

I then generously coated the buckets with the toilet bowl cleaners, but after three tries with three different brands I hadn't noticed any change. 

The Indestructible Bucket!

At this point, I realized that the bucket itself may be resistant to this process. I was pretty discouraged! But, I was determined to make it work on something! I grabbed a shiny metal milk jug that I also bought at Target and soaked it overnight in a solution of vinegar, water and bleach. I didn't measure the amounts. I just grabbed what I had on hand and poured it all into a large bucket. The metal needed to be completely submersed so I added water until the solution covered all sides of the jug. I don't have a photo of the jug before I dunked it.. Bummer! But trust - It was S.H.I.N.Y! Much more so than the olive bucket!

Here are the results after soaking overnight! JACKPOT!!!

I knew as soon as I pulled the jug out of the water that its finish reacted completely different to this treatment than the olive buckets had to my other tries. The photo on the left is immediately after removing it from the solution. The photo on the right is after rinsing in clean water and letting it sit outside for a few hours! And the longer it sits the rustier it gets!

LEFT: Just after soaking overnight in a water/vinegar/bleach solution RIGHT: Finished product!

The perfect patina!

So.. obviously after my success I decided to try the same technique on my buckets. Onto try number... 257!?!? 

Sadly.. here are the results. After soaking overnight in the same exact vinegar/bleach/water solution AND sitting outside in the rain afterwards AND another coat of acid - they barely look any different. Two thumbs down. :( Aside from literally getting a grinder on these things I've just about tried everything. My friend Kelly also suggested that we set a salt block in them and let that natural process try to corrode the finish, but to be honest, I was ready to throw the towel in and set up my porch decor!

The Indestructible buckets after their overnight soak..

Olive Bucket result after ALL attempts.

Overall, the buckets are ever-so-slightly more dull, but nowhere near the rusty finish I wanted. However, my milk jug looks AMAZING and I am so pleased with it! For a $5 investment I can honestly say these buckets will last you a longggg time and still look as good as new! The cheapest vintage ones I found at the Nashville Flea Market this weekend ran about $40+.. So I can appreciate my clearance finds for the new awesomeness that they are!

Our 2015 fall porch at the farm.

I sincerely hope you can learn from my trial and error and that these tips help you achieve your rusty vintage bucket dreams! Happy DIY-ing!

-Lauren

If you'd like to order any of the products I regularly use to achieve this look you can order them here!

(affiliate links)

Zep Commercial Acidic Toilet Bowl Cleaner, 32 oz Bottle

Lysol Power and Free Toilet Bowl Cleaner Value Pack, 2 Count

Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner With Bleach Rain Clean Scent Bottle 24 Oz, 2-Pack

SUNNYSIDE CORPORATION 710G1 1-Gallon Muriatic Acid

Clorox Bleach Regular, 64 oz White House White Distilled Vinegar 64oz

Bragg Organic Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar 32 oz

White House White Distilled Vinegar 64oz

Mad Buck Innovations Deer Brick Salt Lick Mineral Block with Exclusive Scent Cell, Acorn Scent

Red Devil 0320 8-Pack Steel Wool, 0000 Super Fine

COMING SOON! - Everything Home Digital Magazine

I am SO thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of Everything Home Digital Magazine! Everything Home Magazine is a monthly online home decor (& more) magazine that is written by your favorite bloggers and Instagram friends. Each month we will bring you new ideas for home decor, fun DIY projects, recipes, photo tips and much more! We will showcase small businesses & show you new ways to love the home you're in. The best part? Each column has its own hashtag for you to tag your photos with for a possible feature in the magazine! 

Happy Birthday Baker!

Our wild boy turned TWO years old this week! My oh my how time really does fly. No big party this year. We celebrated at home in our pajamas and had cookies and cupcakes for breakfast. (Which was a big hit, btw!) :) I threw together some last minute decorations the night before his birthday so he'd have some surprises to wake up to. He loved it!

Baker had lots of visits and phone calls throughout the day and he was spoiled rotten by all the people who love him! Meme and PawPaw gifted him a trampoline and Grammy and Grampy got him some cool kitchen accessories for his new play kitchen from mommy and daddy. The Quinney family put together an adorable tractor themed basket for him and our sweet friends Paula and Jay Jay showered him with gifts and love. He is one very loved little boy! Our pride and joy!

Possibly the most exciting part of the day was that my dearest friend gave birth to twins!!! They are absolutely precious and we are so thrilled for their family. What an extra special reason to celebrate! I anticipate lots of birthday fun in the future now that Baker gets to share his special day with two new buddies. Congratulations, Ashley and Mitchell! We love you all so much!

Charlotte and John Daniel - One Day New!

Enjoy a few birthday videos!

-Lauren

God Bless America

Happy 4th to you and yours! We had originally planned to host a big farm party to celebrate the holiday with our family and friends. The good news is that Brett received a promotion recently that he's worked so hard for! We are so proud of him! The bad news is that he had to switch shifts and fire stations and because of the shift change he had to work today and our party plans were put on hold. But it's ok! We still pulled out all of our patriotic decor and partied with our families a few days early.

Anyone who works in public service is probably used to these kinds of circumstances. We just roll with the punches. :) We're hoping to kick off summer next year with our First Annual Summer Shindig at the farm!

Link to purchase this bunting at the bottom of the post!

Our DIY Splash Pad!

Brett has been out of town at a work convention all week and boy have we missed him! He flew home early and surprised us last night! I let Baker stay up extra late to give him a BIG hug. :) And I think literally screamed when he called me from the Birmingham airport. Best surprise ever!

Now that the weather has really warmed up we've been spending lots of time at all the splash pads around town. Little man LOVES water play! Brett made a quick trip to the hardware store this morning and $40 later we have our own mini water park! This is a really easy and inexpensive project and so much more convenient than driving all over town since we don't live in the city anymore.

YAY! Daddy's home! (Links to purchase materials at the bottom of the post!)

Our redneck water park! Hahaha!

We already had a big concrete pad in our backyard. The concrete picnic set that was on top of it was in bad shape and starting to crumble apart. We were relieved to discover that it wasn't secured to the base at all. Not even the bench tops were secured to the legs! Brett and I took apart the seats and then hauled off the table using the tractor. The base underneath was in excellent shape. Perfect for our project!

Spring on the Farm

We're smack dab in the middle of enjoying our first Spring season at the farmhouse! Knee deep in yard work, yard work and more yard work, but completely in awe of God's creation all around us. The world celebrated Earth Day this week and I shared a quote on my Instagram account by Henry David Thoreau - "Heaven is under our feet as well as above our heads." We have so much gratitude for this little plot of land that we get to call home. 

We need a mud room!!!! 

We've joked that all the birds must have flocked to our farm this Spring to raise their babies! Every where we turn we seem to find a new nest hiding somewhere. There's a sweet little nest directly above the front door that has been there for years, even before we bought the farmhouse. It was too precious to move. A momma bird had babies in it last Fall and now we're getting to watch a new momma bird raise some Spring babies, too. I got to see them on the day they hatched and now I'm completely obsessed with watching them grow! It's incredible how fast they change right before your eyes. I consulted some friends via social media and the consensus is that these may be European Starlings. Whatever they are, they sure are CUTE!

On April 1st, Brett called to tell me the Kubota ATV he'd been eyeing for a while was on sale. Clearly that wasn't an April Fool's Joke. Truth is, it's an investment we really needed to make. We had purchased an older gas powered golf cart with a dump bed when we first closed in September, but we were running it into the ground working around the property and driving it nearly every single day. The new ATV is probably my favorite thing ever! Definitely functional and super fun to drive. Baker's morning routine now consists of a quick breakfast, throwing on his boots and heading to the back door yelling "ready-to-ride!" and "ride-ride!" It's fun being a farm mom. :)

We've also run into some challenges here and there. If you know anyone with farm land, they'll probably tell you they have several piles of 'stuff' on the back forty. I wasn't aware that this was A Thing, but evidently it is. LOL! We have lots of those piles and have added even more to them than what was originally collected when we moved here. The previous owners actually owned an excavation business at one point so we've found lots of interesting things buried all around! We've cleaned up tons of metal scraps, hence the huge pile below..

While Brett was bush hogging the big field behind the lake last week, the tractor kicked back a huge piece of one of these metal rods and it pierced one of the big rear tractor tires. RUH-ROH. I just so  happened to be taking a walk around the lake when it happened and saw everything. I had no clue, but tractor tires are filled with water and anti-freeze to weigh them down so water was gushing out of the tire like crazy! You learn something new every day, I tell ya.. Luckily, the Fire Chief at the local fire station also owns a tire shop down the street. They were able to repair the tire which was a HUGE relief. It would have been well over $500 to replace it! We're just crossing our fingers that it lasts us for a while. Our tractor gets a lot of use around here!

With each passing season comes a completely different landscape to enjoy. We literally feel like we're walking through a painting sometimes. The property has been absolutely gorgeous this Spring. Sometimes I wonder if I'm taking to many photos or documenting too much, but I never want to forget a single detail of this home as it transforms during our renovations and throughout each season. 

I hope you all enjoy this Spring gallery although I can't imagine how photos can truly do the scenery justice! Our hope is that we'll have the opportunity to give our friends and family a tour in person when you all visit. :) 

God bless and Happy Spring!

- Lauren