Faux Zinc Safe Makeover

It’s been a couple of weeks since we revisited the office makeover progress (we’ve been all over this house with kitchen makeover plans, wrapping up the master bedroom, decorating for oh-so-sweet-what-took-you-so-long spring), but we haven’t forgotten about the manly vintage military room.

AKA the place to put all of Robert’s past Marine Corps stuff that I have no idea what to do with.

As of now, we have a few more to-do list items to check off in here:

• Frame the windows with trim
• Make Roman shades
• Put up a gallery wall
• Change up the light fixture
• Paint the safe

Yeah, maybe I didn’t mention that before.  We have a safe.  And I wasn’t really a fan of this big eyesore that usually hangs out in the corner of the office.  I do love me some industrial style, but this one wasn’t doing it for me.

So I went for an industrial look that’s more my speed- zinc.  Well, faux zinc, since the real deal stuff would be way harder to work with and way pricier.

Supplies used for a faux zinc finish:  (Affiliate links are provided below.  For more information, see my full disclosure here.)

• Fusion Mineral Paint in Ash
• Fusion Studio Metallics in Brushed Steel
• 1.5″ angled Purdy brush
• 320 grit sandpaper
• Tack cloth
• Paper towels or clean, dry rag
• Power drill
• Hammered nail heads
• Small artist brush

I wanted to make sure the paint wouldn’t slide right off of the glossy metal, so just to be safe (har har, see what I did there?) I sanded down the entire piece with the 320 grit sandpaper and wiped away the dust with a tack cloth.

And put on two coats of the Fusion Ash paint.

Yay! Better already.  And really I was tempted to leave it like this but… eh, what’s the fun in that?

Then I got to add glitter to the manly office!  Just kidding.  But it is sparkly and pretty.

I dipped my paint brush into the Brushed Steel paint and wiped off the excess on a paper towel.

I dry brushed it on in all different directions over the dried Ash paint.  It took a little while to repeat the dry brushing process as I did a lot of layering and only wanted a little of the Ash color showing underneath.

When I was happy with the finish on the safe, I brushed more of the Brushed Steel paint on a few nail heads.

Robert drilled a few holes for me using a power drill into the corners of the safe.  And I used a little hot glue to secure the nail heads into them.

I thought about adding an industrial stencil on the front of the door but haven’t really decided yet.  Robert wants to stamp “armory” on it, so I guess since this is his office, it’s really up to him.

The closer we are to finishing this office, the more it feels like it’s flexing its muscles at us.  The photos don’t really do this makeover justice since it’s pretty tricky to photograph metallic paint.

I’m loving the nail head details on the corners.  I don’t think it gets much more industrial than that.

The other week, I found this plastic gear clock for $2 at the thrift store and I HAD to snap it up.  All it needed was a coat of hammered black spray paint and it was good as new.

Oh, and our floor got a fancy new rug that I scored at 50% off at World Market during a rug sale a couple weeks ago.  I combined it with a coupon and got it for $80.  Boom!

It has a faint olive green herringbone pattern that works great in here.

 I’d say we’re pretty darn close to hitting the final phase of this space.  It’s been so much fun letting ourselves run wild with the industrial decor in here since we’re usually a little more farmhouse-y in the rest of the house.

We already have a couple more projects we’re working on for this space that you’ll be seeing soon too.  And before we know it, it’ll be done!  (Now, if we can just get going on that kitchen makeover, that’d be great.)

Have you guys done any industrial projects of your own lately?  Or some epic furniture makeovers?  It’s almost yard sale season, y’all!  There’s gotta be some grody furniture out there somewhere just waiting to be fancified.

If you want to check out the rest of the projects in our office, you can find all the links below:

• Office Before Shots and Makeover Mood Board
• DIY RH Inspired French Mute Books
• DIY Vintage Pull-Down Map
• Industrial Shelving
• Easy Office Sign

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