Soapy water may not be safe for all wooden finishes. Test an inconspicuous corner of the furniture with your soapy mixture to make sure it doesn’t change the color of the furniture. If your furniture is old or delicate, just wipe it down with plain water.
Painting your furniture is totally optional, but it can help bring new life back to an old or stained piece of furniture. Chalk paint is typically the best choice for furniture, because it’s much more forgiving and will seep into cracks and crevices. Try picking a darker color to make your gold leaf pop. Teal, charcoal gray, and black are all great colors to choose from.
Even if you’ve just painted your furniture, sanding it down lightly will help the gold leaf adhere better and stay on longer. Use a tack cloth to remove any debris or sanded bits that appear on the furniture once you are done sanding it.
Painter’s tape is gentle, so it won’t peel up any paint or finish on your furniture (as long as everything is completely dry).
You can also use spray adhesive, although it’s a little bit harder to control, making for a less precise design.
You can tell your adhesive has dried too much if your gold leaf doesn’t stick to it.
If you don’t have cotton gloves, simply sprinkle a small amount of baby powder onto your fingers. The powder will absorb the oil on your fingertips, making it less likely to transfer onto the gold leaf.
Your gold leaf will start to rip and tear right away, and that’s okay! It’s designed to pull away at the edges for a not-perfect seam.
You may want to lay a sheet down under the furniture to make catching excess gold leaf easier as you brush it off. If you are covering an area completely with gold leaf, skip this step and instead keep patting down the gold leaf sheet so it sticks fully.
If you’re working on a large area, your adhesive may dry before you get to it. If that’s the case, simply dab on more adhesive and wait for about 20 more minutes before continuing.
While gold leaf is called gold leaf, it’s actually made out of brass. Brass can tarnish and change color over time, which is why it’s important to protect it from the elements.
