Faux finishes have really been my jam lately. Naturally, I needed to create my own faux denim finish for furniture! I am so excited to share this with you!

Who doesn’t like a nice pair of comfy jeans? Now visualize that look on a piece of furniture. You CANNOT go wrong!! I have seen many techniques over the years. I played a round a bit and did something I thought would be easy enough for a beginner but give you a look of an advanced painter. This is my easy guide to a faux denim finish for furniture.

How to Create a Faux Denim Finish

Products Used:

How To:

You want a lighter base coat, under your Bunker Hill Blue. For this piece I used Cotton by Dixie Belle and painted the entire piece in Cotton as a base coat.

Once your base coat of Cotton is completely dry, you will want to put your next coat. Bunker Hill Blue is the next coat. Completely cover your piece with one coat of the Bunker Hill Blue. While your paint is still wet you are going to create your faux denim finish.

How to Create a Faux Denim Finish

For this next part I used a Zinsser paste brush, it has plastic bristles. You could even find a wicker broom or a hand broom at the store to test out. This brush was inexpensive and easy to work with. While the Bunker Hill Blue was still wet I ran the brush vertically along the piece. I then went over the piece in a horizontal motion. I repeated this a few times to give a realistic denim weave look.

After I did the weaving part with just the brush, I allowed the piece to dry. After the paint was dry, I then used Cotton to add to the look. I poured some on a paper towel and spread it with a chip brush, therefore it would be evenly distributed on the brush. While dabbing the paste brush on the paint lightly, I went over the piece again. Using the same technique as I did when only using the paste brush without paint. This will add a little more dimension to your piece really bringing out a faux denim finish.

How to Create a Faux Denim Finish

This is the part where I used the In the Navy and Bunker Hill Blue to soften up and tie the entire faux denim finish together. I used the cheap chip brushes to dry brush the two blue colors, therefore softening up the look. As well as using the colors to shade and blend. I put a little bit of paint in an area and then used my chip brush in a circular motion to blend it into the finish.

After the paint was dry, I used the bronze gilding wax all over the piece. Shading the corner and going over different edges. To learn more about this painted piece, head to Bella Renovare here!

How to Create a Faux Denim Finish

About the Author

Dixie Belle Paint Company

Dixie Belle Paint Company provides a line of chalk mineral paint that is high quality, easy to use, and most importantly priced so every DIYer can create and discover the joy of painting.

View All Articles