Friday, January 30, 2009

Distressed Wood

Okay, all you crafting, blogging buddies. I haven't done much with distressing wood but I'm thinking it can't be all that hard. I've been going in and out of some local craft stores and I see an item, look at the price, and think I could make this for much less for myself. I've done some painting on wood and slate - more of a country theme. So can someone tell me what supplies I need for "distressing" say a shelf or a wood bucket? I saw a nice wooden tray style basket (but made out of wood), with a handle, it was green and then had an aged look to it with some white paint - I'm guessing here. But it was way more than I would pay for something like that. Which got me to thinking how could I make it myself. I also saw how Leslie made that black candle wall sconce from something from the thrift store. So I want to know how to do that. Any pointers??

5 comments:

  1. Hello
    I have done quite a bit of painting/distressing and its easy ...i use a chalky paint.i get mine from Annie Sloane here in England and its good for wood but you can use MATT emulsion the stuff you paint walls with .

    1. sand does not have to be perfect...!1

    2 first coat

    3 second coat

    4 WAX use a clear soft one ..the same you would use on pine wood

    5 buff this wont be very shiny but will seal in and stay fingerprint free

    7 sandpaper the edges and areas that would rub off naturally
    * you are now done .....ENJOY
    Kieren x

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you want a more distressed, peeling paint look -
    Paint on a base coat (the color that will show under the "peeling" paint).

    When that coat is dry, smear on some vaseline in random spots - not too thin and not too thick.

    Paint right over the vaseline and base coat with a different color.

    When the second paint coat is dry, wipe the piece with a rag or paper toweling. You may have to scrape a bit more paint with your fingernail to get the effect you want.

    I use a baby wipe to get the vaseline residue off.

    Hey! Thanks for linking to my blog, Lisa!!

    Eileen http://ruralwisconsin.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi! I distress wood all of the time -- I use craft paint. I never buy something I can make! Here's what I do:

    * If I'm going prim (which I usually do)I'll paint a barnyard red for the first coat and let dry.
    *Then I paint a coat of black. Let dry.
    *Then I take sandpaper and scrape off the areas that would wear out naturally, plus any other area I want to age.

    That's it! All of the ideas posted work. Stop by my blog for some examples/pics! ~Terry

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's really simple. Most of my stuff is just one coat of paint (craft or leftover paint you have from the walls or other items). Slap that on, if you want another color to show through, do two colors, one on top of the other. Let it dry. Take out the sand paper and rub the edges and anywhere you want the piece to look distressed and worn. You can rub stain over that if you want an aged and old look.

    Good luck :)


    That's all there is to it. No special tools or special paint required.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Im aging a quilt holder right now this is how I do mine: I paint the item one color allow to dry then i take a candle and rub it over spots where i want that color to show through 2nd coat of paint. Paint over top of that then take a piece of sand paper lightly sand where i want worn edges and paint comes right off where i put the candle wax. :)

    ReplyDelete