The $7 Trick to Revitalizing Dated Wicker Decor, According to a Pro DIYer

I’m a huge vintage lover, so I love following creators on Instagram who scour secondhand shops to fill their home with retro finds. One of my favorites lately has been Sarah Arnold (@highwaychildvintage), who has a groovy 1970s style that’s perfectly curated throughout her Nebraska home. It’s so cool to see the amazing things she picks up at estate sales and thrift shops, and how much better those things can look with a little bit of TLC.

During one of her recent “estate sale hauls,” I couldn’t help but latch onto a totally brilliant tip Arnold shared for giving old wicker a new life. She’d found a supercute wicker magazine rack, but the white-painted finish was giving more “country cottage” than “funky ’70s.” Arnold wanted to get it back to a natural wicker tone, but actually removing the paint from wicker would take forever, thanks to all those tiny crevices — and there’s no guarantee it would even end up looking very good.

Instead of taking on an arduous stripping process, Arnold employed a time-saving hack: In cases like these, she turns to a bottle of Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch spray paint in Khaki to refinish wicker. The warm tan is a pretty darn close match to natural wicker coloring, and it’s much easier to paint over white than to remove it — plus, a whole can of the paint costs you less than $7.

If you have a white painted wicker piece that could use this spray paint treatment, Arnold advises setting aside “a lot of time for a wicker painting project,” since all those nooks and crannies can add up to a tedious job. “Don’t forget to turn the piece upside down once it’s dried, and you’ll see that you need to paint it from that angle, too, before you’re done,” she adds. This makes sure you’ve achieved that full paint coverage! 

After the once-white magazine rack had been sprayed down with that shade of khaki, suddenly, it looked as if it had traveled in a time machine straight from the 1970s! The new color looks perfectly at home in a boho or mid-century-inspired space.

So, what do you think? Would you try this hack to give painted wicker a more natural color? Or would you rather stick with a white finish? Let me know in the comments.