How to Distress Furniture
Revive your Home Interior with Aged Looking Furniture
The distressed furniture look has been around a long time and it’s still a very popular trend, but it’s also an economic trend that can be completed by weekend home warriors. Follow these steps and you can literally take a piece from trash to centerpiece.
The first step is to find a piece of furniture you want to distress. For our discussion we’ll be using a small bedside table found at St. Vincent de Paul’s. The goal is to turn it into a distressed black end table for a lake cottage. But you can choose just about any piece you want, something from your own collection or something sitting curbside, anything with a good, solid wood structure will do.
The next step is cleaning. This can be a bit of a chore, and the level of effort you expend will depend on the piece you selected, which may help you make that determination. If the piece is painted or stained you may want to remove all of the pre-existing finish. If it’s painted you have to decide if you want that undercoat of paint showing through or not. Sometimes it’s really nice to have a contrasting patina underneath your top coat. A heavy coat of varnish, on the other hand, makes it difficult for your paint to adhere and should be removed.
Part of the cleaning process is sanding. Sand the entire piece well, use a palm sander for convenience and speed and a Dremel tool can be used on intricate scroll work. Once you’re happy with the sanding, wash the piece with a light detergent and water to remove all the dust. If your piece is wet or damp from washing or stain/paint removal products, let it dry before you begin the next step.
If you want to use the wax technique then use a crayon or wax and cover areas that you want exposed. After you’ve waxed the piece you can paint over it, the paint will not adhere well, or at all, to the wax and you can gently sand or use steel wool over the entire piece to remove any paint on waxed areas, also remove the wax.
If you’re not really interested in the wax technique, then its time to paint the entire piece. If you’re going for a multi-layered colored effect make sure your basecoat contrasts with the topcoat. In our sample piece a cream color (from the original piece) is left in spots to show through but we wanted the wood to really be the highlight so a little extra work was required. If you are looking for a one tone with wood as the base then you simply need to apply your topcoat.
Once the piece has totally dried its time to have fun and begin seriously distressing your piece. Beat it with a hammer or whip it with a length of chain; whatever gives you the level of distress you want. If you want it to looked aged with worm holes, use a nail and pound it only in partway and remove it, put a handful of wormholes in a small area for a more realistic look. Then work your distressed areas ever more with sandpaper and steel wool.
Remove as much or as little paint as you want and try to keep a realistic feel, edges will be more abused than the sides, the top may have some large dents or scratches. Be creative and have fun!
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