Distressed Painted Furniture Ideas

Painted and Sanded

• Sanding painted furniture is an common distressing method because it is fairly simple and yields attractive results. Debra Conrad, a professional faux finish painter and the creator of "That Painter Lady" website, recommends choosing two, three or even four different colors of paint, and giving your piece of furniture a coat of each. Once the last coat is dry, use sandpaper here and there on the piece to remove the top layer of paint, exposing bits of color from the other layers underneath. For the best-looking, most realistic results, Conrad recommends using several different grits of sandpaper in different areas of the piece, and to sand where the paint would naturally wear off over time, such as on corners, edges and knobs.

Crackled

• Crackle painting is another option that uses two paint colors. In a nutshell, you paint your furniture piece a base color and allow it to dry. You then apply crackle medium over the base coat, and a top coat over the crackle medium. The crackle medium causes the top coat to crack and break up, exposing the base color in its cracks. Crackling is not a difficult technique to master, but it's a smart idea to test it out on a scrap before attempting your larger piece. Also, keep in mind that instructions will differ from brand to brand of crackle medium. Read and follow the instructions for your specific brand of crackle medium.

Beat It

• If you'd like to give your new furniture the well-used look of an old favorite, you need to get tough and beat it up. Although it may be difficult to envision taking a hammer, nails and an old chain to a pristine piece of new furniture, this method is a quick way to add age and character. You can hammer nail holes into your furniture, or dent it it by whacking it with a heavy chain or a large bolt strung onto a piece of rope. The key is to start light, as you can always add more distressing but it is harder to take it away. Also, make sure any dents, holes and scratches are placed randomly.

Whitewashing

• Whitewashing is covering an unfinished or stained wooden piece in either white-tinted stain or white latex paint that has been diluted with water. It is translucent, so it only partially covers the wood, allowing some of the wood's color and texture show through. This gives the piece an aged, imperfect look but involves little actual distressing of the wood itself. However, this technique often requires wiping with a rag to remove excess paint.

Glazing

• Another simple way to add an aged, distressed look to painted furniture is to glaze it. To achieve this technique, you first paint the piece the color of your choosing. Once the paint is dry, you go over it with a transparent glaze in a contrasting color, often brown for light-colored furniture and white for dark-colored furniture. Wipe or brush glaze over the piece, giving special attention to any dents, pits, scratches, carvings, moldings and other nooks and crannies. The glaze settles into those areas, making the dents and details more prominent.