Welcome to the ultimate guide where I'll be showing you how to replicate the timeless allure of Pottery Barn Sausalito furniture! In this comprehensive tutorial, I'll walk you through the art of achieving that distinctive high-quality finish that sets Pottery Barn pieces apart. By combining the right paint and glaze, and employing a variety of brushes, you will soon be able to recreate the coveted look on your furniture. So, get ready to infuse your home with the elegant charm of Pottery Barn without the huge price tag!
The first step is finding a piece that doesn't have a lot of details or "edges" to it. For example:
*This dresser has too many ornate details*
*I avoid dressers with inset drawers and trim. It makes it difficult to smooth the glaze out at the ends.*
Here are a couple examples of pieces I've flipped with this technique:
Once you've found a great piece you'll do the usual prep work. This includes cleaning, scuff sanding, and wood filling if needed. You can find a step by step guide for this in my Furniture Flipping 101 blog post. (If you need to drill new hardware holes you'll want to do that at this point.)
Now that you have your piece prepped and ready you'll move onto priming. You can do this by hand with a paint brush or use a paint sprayer. My preferred choice is a paint sprayer. This gives you the smoothest application. My go-to paint sprayer is the HomeRight Super Finish Max. After 2 coats of primer you'll then apply your paint color. I use Behr Interior Semi-Gloss Enamel in the color Rugged Tan. Be sure to paint the sides of all your drawers as well as the inside edges on the body of your piece.
Time for the fun yet tedious part of this dupe! Grab Rust-Oleum Decorative Glaze in the color Java Brown and your brushes. You'll start applying a light coat with a chip brush. You do not have to cover the entire drawer front. Don't forget to apply a small amount to each side of the drawer. I do not apply any to the bottom edge of the drawer but you can if you want to.
To smooth the glaze out I use a large deck brush. If small drops of glaze gather on the edges you can wipe it off with a paper towel and then go back over with the deck brush. It's also a good idea to wipe the deck brush on paper towels occasionally to get rid of excess glaze. If the brush is giving some resistance while you're smoothing the glaze you can use your chip brush to add a little bit more.
The next brush you're going to use is a rubber pet hair remover brush. This is the brush that is going to create your wood grain! Swipe the brush back and forth from one end of the drawer to the other. Some swipes I'll hold the brush at an angle to create different "wood grain". Same as the deck brush you'll want to be sure you wipe it on a paper towel every once in awhile. The brush I linked above comes in a 2 pack and I accidently snapped the handle off one but it's become super helpful for hard to reach places! Remember this technique doesn't have to be perfect or uniform. You want it to look natural and natural wood grain is not symmetrical!
Last step of the glazing process is to use a small whisk broom brush to brush out any harsh lines. This will blend all of the "wood grain" together. You can brush as much or as little as you want on this step depending on the look you're going for. Make sure to do the top and the sides of the drawers as well!
I always do all of the drawers first and let them dry overnight. The next day I remove all the drawers and then repeat the same process on the body. I found it works best to do the body in this order: one side, front of piece, other side, and lastly the top. After completing the glaze process on the entire piece go back around and make sure you didn't accidently smooth the glaze with your brush on an already completed side. I've accidently drug my deck brush at the top edge of a side of a dresser when I was glazing the top and didn't notice until it was dry the next day! I ended up having to lightly sand that section and redo the glaze. I made it work but I could tell that, that section had been redone. We're our own worst critics!
You'll again want to wait over night for the glaze to dry. My sealer of choice is Minwax Polycrylic in Matte. I load the polycrylic into my HomeRight sprayer and spray 2-3 coats. If the drawers overlap the frame of the dresser I'll spray 1-2 coats first before putting the drawers back in. Then I'll go back and spray 2 coats on the drawers. All that is left is to add your hardware of choice! My favorite hardware for my Pottery Barn dupes are:
This technique is time consuming but the results are so worth it. Below are some of my favorites that I've done. If you decide to tackle this project I'd love to see your finished pieces! Remember if I can do it, you can do it too! Happy painting and glazing!
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