How to paint distressed furniture

There are many different ways you can distress furniture! I would like to share with you one of my favored ways. It is simple and adds an authentic distressed look to your furniture! Distressing in the decorative language is the pursuit of making a piece of furniture or object look aged or older. The antique aged look has made a come back in our world today, it has become very popular for that farmhouse look.The most familiar way of distressing furniture is with sandpaper. Ive even seen some use a jagged rock as well. The problem with these approaches are it is hard to control how deep these items will sand down. If you sand off too much of the chalk paint you will start to see the color underneath the new paint, or the wood underneath. With that being said i like to use steel wool. It works great because it is more flexible than sandpaper making it fit on those odd shaped surfaces.Below is a simple steps to distress your furniture.

Painting distressed furniture

• Step One: Prepare your space.

  Lay down some plastic painters paper with the desired furniture on top. If you are painting a dresser remove drawers and knobs.

• Step Two: Clean desired furniture

  Take a clorox wipe or a simple rag with cleaning product and wipe down surface removing loose depree. You can choose to sand down the furniture, however if your using chalk paint which i reccomend, you can skip this step.

• Step Three: Paint the furniture

  If you are like me, this step is one of my favories! I always like to apply thin coats and add coats if necessary. This prevents having that caked on look or having drip spots shown in paint.

• Step Four: Let it dry

  Grab a cup of coffee and take a deserved break! Let furniture dry, do not rush this step!

• Step Five: Distress furniture

  Lightly dip your steel wool into a clear finishing wax. Try and get the spots where your furniture would naturally show wear and tare. On dressers the corners are a great spot and for kitchen chairs the edges and tops of chairs are a good plalce. Keep in mind the raised details in furniture generally get more worn over time. After you pick the areas on furniture to distress take your steel wool and lightly rub the area till you see paint is being removed. Continue distressing until object looks as desired. Note, using clear finishing wax is only recommended not required. You can rub the steel wool dry and get that distressed look.The wax helps the distressed area look lighter.

• Give yourself a pat on your back!! We hope your newly painted furniture adds that farmhouse style to your home! Distressing furniture is so much fun! Antique furniture can be pricey, therefore i love going to a goodwil shop picking out a piece of furniture and bringing it back to life! It saves you a ton of money and gives you a fun project! If you have any more questions feel free to email of call us at Honey Do Painting LLC.