DIY Saturday #47 – How to Distress Wood Furniture – (Video)

Guest Blog #62, Entry #497, April 16, 2011

Happy DIY Saturday! One of the latest trends in home furniture is buying wood furniture that looks old or distressed. In interior magazines, blogs, and cable network home and garden/DIY programs, homeowners are spending thousands to get this look in their home.

Today, I thought I’d show you how to turn your favorite wood furniture into a distressed replica, at a fraction of the cost!

Distressing wood furniture can beautify your interiors

Here’s a a video from DIY Network showing how to distress a black cabinet. Then read how my Guest Blogger from ‘My Blog Guest’ gives you tips for distressing on your own.

How to Distress Wood Furniture

Distressing is a great technique to use whenever you want to artificially produce the warm, cozy look of old, well-worn furniture. This technique is great for wooden chairs, dressers, bureaus, tables, and even beds. All you need to begin distressing the wood are some tools you can usually easily find around the house: a hammer, several pieces of sandpaper, a mallet, a drill, a wood file, a wire brush, and a sock filled with hard objects such as nuts or bolts. Which of the tools you’ll end up using for your particular project will depend on the look you are going for.

Although the aim of distressing wood is to create an authentically aged, antique and shabby finish, it’s important not to overdo it, otherwise your furniture piece might end up looking like trash instead of a valued antique!

Also, you’ll want to focus your distressing efforts on the areas of your furniture that normally receive the most wear and tear, including the tops and edges of chairs, table feet, tabletops, and rungs on rocking chairs or stools.

Weathered look furniture can cost a fortune in a retail store

Process overview:

Let’s say you want to distress a rocking chair. Begin with the arms: use a fine grain of sandpaper to remove some of the existing paint/stain along the sides of each arm. Don’t take off too much of the finish, and sand only with the grain of the wood.

Then, use a wood file to sand down the ends of the chair arms; again file only in the direction of the grain, and don’t overdo it – all you want is a subtle curve. Use your mallet to add a few dents to the sides of the arms. Use restraint; if you hit too hard, you might break the arm of the chair! Use the mallet on the chair legs, too.

Get out your drill, and make four or five small holes in the back of the chair; you might want to put them in a cluster, to simulate a woodworm infestation. Use sandpaper to lightly sand down the base of the seat, and carefully make some scratch marks along the back of the chair using your wire brush. Finally, rub down the entire piece with some wax to seal the exposed wood.

And voila – you now have a distressed masterpiece that looks like an authentic beloved antique!

This post was written by the editor of a house painting website who also provides room color scheme tutorials and offers advice about choosing interior paint colors.

Watch Stagetecture’s You Tube Channel for more DIY ideas