Ava Berry Blog — Painting Technique RSS

Gray Wash Tutorial (with a lesson on Vinegar Staining)     Gray wash.  I don't know if that's a real word or not but at my house it is!  I fell hard for the gray trend a few years ago, but also grew tired of painting things gray.  I love wood--the grain, the natural warmth it brings to a space, and I had tried countless times to achieve that perfect light gray stain/wash effect.  Gray store-bought stain was too dark and honestly doesn't provide the same richness that the brown-toned stains do, so it's not my favorite.  I've tried mixing all the things but could never get the finish quite right.  So, after much heartache and many a botched project,...

Hand-Painted Faux Marble Tutorial (Carrara Edition)   Like the rest of the Target home decor demographic, I’ve fallen in love with white marble this last year! After buying all the marble trays and soap pumps and the marble candle holders, I decided to try a number of methods to incorporate marble into my designs. I finally settled on paint for it’s longevity and potential to look most authentic. The tutorial below is a mixture of different tutorials I read as well as iterations I’ve made after a lot of practice painting approximately everything in sight this way.  Consider yourself warned, this method is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it and you will want to marble ALL...