How to achieve a distressed look!

How to achieve a distressed look!

This had distressed replaced timber!

This assumes that your wood does not have any previous finish or coating.

Smooth the surface with a fine grade sanding paper, now you are ready to start.

To get that lightly distressed and dented look, you will need a piece of rock or concrete is best I think as they have uneven surfaces, just look for where you think the heavily worn areas would be on your furniture and imagine that if you were to have used that piece of furniture for many years what areas would show the most wear and tear?

Then once you have established these areas, then you should concentrate on the distressing, with the rock/concrete gently at first strike the surface of the wood do this a couple of times then stop and have a look at the result.

If you are happy with the result then continue to remember don’t overdo it as it will look “Over the top” as we say here in the UK.

Then once you have completed all of the distressing processes, take a fresh look have you distressed around the feet of your item?  This is where most damage occurs due to vacuum cleaners bashing into the feet/legs of furniture etc.

If you are now satisfied with your efforts, then you are ready to stain the furniture either your or your clients have chosen colour.

Apply the stain evenly over the entire surface and remember to dry off the stain in the direction of the grain.  I have seen so many people leaving the stain wet and this makes for a streaky stained surface.

Once dry, you are now ready to re-stain over in certain areas where you might like to create a shaded appearance.

If this is the case then re-stain in those areas but use a clean paintbrush to remove the excess stain instead of a rag, just use the brush like a comb to stroke the drying stain in the direction of the grain and wipe the excess stain from the brush onto a cloth.

This way you will ensure that you don’t take off too much stain and just leave enough on the surface to give you a very nice shaded effect.

Should you wish to add a dark ring mark, then why not!  Just use an old cup?  Not your best china!  Dip the base of the cup into the stain don’t over-wet it then just gently set the cup onto the surface and leave for a short while to allow for the stain to sink into the surface.

It is best if you don’t wobble when you place the cup down, for if this happens you will of course get an off-centre ring mark.

Now you are ready for sealing the wood grain with shellac sanding sealer, and then the bodying up and finishing using either French polish or lacquer.  If using lacquer use cellulose sanding sealer.

I would suggest that you practise on some scrap timber first, so as to get the feel of things, and that way if you mess up you won’t get into trouble.

Once again I hope that this will be of some use to you?  If so hit the comment tab below and leave a message.

Thanks for reading.