Tips for Distressing Your Furniture

Some people have old furniture and wish it was new but there are those who have new furniture yet want it to look old. Distressed furniture is all the rage – combining new designs with a vintage look. Distressed furniture is more expensive than a simple manufactured piece, but after distressing the furniture yourself, you’ll have a one-of-a-kind piece and save in the meanwhile.

There are several different techniques for making furniture appear weathered. One thing to keep in mind, though, is how to go about achieving a realistic-looking affect. Think about where the most wear and tear on a piece of furniture would be. Where would you accidentally hit the leg with the vacuum? Where would the wood stain receive the most wear? Keep these questions in mind while working on a distressed piece. Whether the piece of furniture is a table, an upholstered chair or a book shelf there are certain areas that will show wear quicker than others.

Certain tools are perfect for distressing furniture but you want to make sure that you don’t damage the framework itself. Large hammers and pieces of log may do a little too much damage to the piece. One tool often used for distressing furniture is a piece of wood with various hardware drilled into it. Nails and screws of different sizes are perfect, but don’t align them, put them in the wood in a random pattern. Leave half of the wood piece without hardware so that it can be used as a handle. Hit wooden places on furniture, in random areas, but not the upholstery.

Another technique is to fill a sock with various screws, nails, nuts and bolts then hit the furniture in various places. It’s recommended that you wear a heavy, long-sleeve jacket while doing this, or wrap a towel around your arm during the distressing process. This will prevent gouging your arm with the hardware should the sock fly backwards during hitting.

A wire brush works wonders to leave small scratches on the wood surface. Drag the brush across the wood putting some pressure on it. Don’t make the drag marks go all the way across the wood piece but instead, make short scrape marks here and there. Or, hit the wood with the brush to leave tiny punctures in the surface.

Chains are another popular way of leaving scuff marks on wood. Wear a heavy glove and wrap arm well before using chains to beat the furniture. Different size links in the chains will make different imprints on the wood. Use a set of large chains to make “vacuum bumps” on the legs, or a set of small chains to leave small indentations.

Hold a piece of wire in both gloved hands and work it back and forth on random areas of the wood. With a chisel, use jabbing and twisting motions across the grain. Other great tools are a jagged rock or a rasp. The electric Dremel tool or something similar makes great “worm holes”. Use the tiny bit with the round ball on the end to make the holes, traveling with the grain, not across it. Add burn marks to furniture by loosely rolling up a piece of paper, lighting it, then laying it on the wood. Keep fire away from upholstery. Have a wet towel handy to put out the fire after it has left the burn mark.

Staining the wood after distressing it makes it appear to have been refinished many times over the years. For wood that’s originally painted white use the distress techniques of your choice then apply a light-colored brown stain over the white paint. This will make the paint look older than it actually is. You can also use rub-on appliquÃ?©s on a solid wooden piece, such as a wooden rocker, then use the brown stain over the appliquÃ?©s to age them.

Distressed wood is beautiful and sought-after but there’s no need to pay extra high prices for it. Try some of the various techniques for aging the furniture yourself and you’ll be well pleased with the results.