There are many different ways you can distress furniture! I wanted to share with you all one of my favorite (secret;)) ways to distress furniture. It is simple and adds an authentic distressed look to your furniture.
But first what is distressing furniture?
Distressing (or weathered look) in the decorative arts is the activity of making a piece of furniture or object appear aged and older, giving it a “weathered look”, and there are many methods to produce an appearance of age and wear.[1] Distressing is viewed as a refinishing technique although it is the opposite of finishing in a traditional sense. In distressing, the object’s finish is intentionally destroyed or manipulated to look less than perfect, such as with sandpaper or paint stripper. For example, the artisan often removes some but not all of the paint, leaving proof of several layers of paint speckled over wood grain underneath. This becomes the “finished” piece. – Wikipedia
To sum it up, distressing furniture is done to age your furniture and to make it look older in an authentic way.
How to Distress Furniture
The most common way of distressing furniture is with sandpaper. It is generally pretty quick. But one of the problems with distressing furniture with sandpaper is that it is hard to control. You have to be careful to not over-sand your piece. If you over sand you can actually sand off the painted finish AND the stained finish. (You want to typically see the stained original wood.)
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With all of that being said lets talk about the secret to distressing furniture!
Many professional refinishers use steel wool to distress furniture. (You can also use it to apply wax!?) Steel wool is great because it is more pliable that sandpaper. You can make it fit the exact shape of what you are wanting to distress.
Supplies to Distressing Furniture with Steel Wool
- Your painted furniture project! (I used a bed for this project.)
- Steel Wool! The higher the grade the better.
- Clear Finishing Wax
To begin, lightly dip your steel wool into a small amount of clear finishing wax. When distressing furniture you want to think of where your furniture would naturally be rubbed against if it had been in a home for years and years. The raised details of a piece of furniture typically get more worn over time.
After you have a small amount of clear finishing wax on your steel wool, take your steel wool to the raised edges of your project and start to lightly rub away the paint. Keep moving the steel wool back and forth. You will start to see your furniture come to life! Keep working until you can see the original stained finish underneath the paint. The wax helps to make your distressed areas a little more brighter. And it gives a super smooth finish! 🙂
Continue this process on all raised edges of your furniture. Be careful not to miss any lines!
PRO TIP: You can apply dark wax inside of details to create a more antiqued look!
PRO TIP: Clear wax will actually remove too much dark wax!
Distressing furniture can be so much fun! You can really see your furniture vision come to life. 🙂 It is possible to make something new look aged. This look is perfect for the farmhouse style in your home!
CLICK HERE for how to paint furniture with chalk paint.
Have you distressed furniture before? If so how did it go? I’d love to hear! Leave a comment below. 🙂
Ps. Do you like this paint color? It is Annie Sloan’s Old Ochre.
UPADTE: A reader (love you readers!) brought up the “wet distressing” technique. I’m so glad she brought this up!
Wet distressing is a great way to distress furniture and not have any dust! Wet distressing is also wonderful for small details on furniture.
How do you wet distress furniture? My method of wet distressing furniture is adding a small amount of water to a shop towel. Begin to rub the section of paint with the damp shop towel. After a few rubs you will see that the paint has been removed. Creating a distressed look. This is Called “wet distressing” because you used water to create the distressed look to your painted furniture. This technique works great for chalk based or mineral based paints! I have found that with latex paints the latex becomes rubbery and really does not wet distress well. Hope this tip can help you in your furniture painting!
I’m curious about the barn wood on the wall behind your piece of furniture. Is it a stick on product? I would be interested in purchasing some for sure.
Oh my goodness! It is SO fun! I picked it up at Lowes. They sell it in the paneling section. They have it in a a variety of styles!! It comes in a HUGE sheet. Here the link. I think I purchased the Weathered Pine one.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/48-in-x-8-ft-Smooth-Weathered-Pine-MDF-Wainscot-Wall-Panel/1000437575
Hi Megan! In your tips, you mentioned dark wax can be used in the books and crannies as well, and that the clear would take away from it if used. If I want to use dark wax, would I just use it in place of the clear altogether? I’ve just recently started to work with distressing furniture, so any and all pointers are greatly appreciated!
Hi Julia!!
I would recommend adding clear wax before you add the dark wax. Otherwise the dark wax will end up staining the chalk paint. And You want to be able to move/smear/rub in the dark wax to make your project look antiqued. 🙂 The clear helps to get the dark wax moving! My go to for distressing furniture is typically steel wool! Especially on antique furniture details that you do not want to scratch. Also using a light grade sand paper like 220 will help aid in a natural distressed furniture look! 🙂 Hope that helps! Blessings to you on your project I’d love to see!
Hi Megan, I use a wet rag to distress. No mess with dust like when using sand paper.
Hi Kelly!! Oh I LOVE wet distressing! Great point! It’s great for fine details!
I recently painted Doors for a headboard. I painted them a dark gray first, the I painted Dixie belle white overtop. I would like to distress the doors to allow some of the gray or show through. Would the clear wax and steel wool achieve this?? Great and cute helper in the video btw…
Hi Lisa! Ha. She is a good helper! Yes! I would actually try a little steel wool without wax first. That will knock off your first layer of paint. Then once you see the gray coming through add a small amount of wax to your steel wool and go over the distressed area again. This will make it look shiny and smooth! Hope that helps! Good luck!
Thank you for the response! I’ll give your suggestions a try! I will let you know how this project turns out!
You’re welcome Lisa!! Can’t wait to hear how it goes for you!!
Looks GREAT! I heard that steel wool and vinegar works good for distressing. What do you think?
Hi Paulette! Thank you! I have never tried steel wool and vinegar before! I am definitely curious though! I will have to try that sometime and see how it goes!
Is there a particular paint you would recommend using before you start the distressed process? I have a black cabinet I’d love to give a distressed look with a white or cream similar to what you used on the headboard. Just regular paint? Or a stain? This will be my first time ☺️
Hi Dee!! This sounds like a SUPER fun project!! I LOVE Annie Sloan Ochre (that is what I used on this distressed headboard) and Dixie Bell Buttercream and Fluff are also very good! For first timers I would go with one of these! 🙂 You’ll have to come back and let me know how it goes! Have fun! Good luck!
First timer also..I have a two toned color bedroom wall of light gray top with thin white boarder in between with a darker gray on the bottom. I thought a distressed white or buttercream would look good for the nightstands & dressers. Where would be a good place to buy items to do this..preferably the items you mentioned!! 🙂 Thank you
Hi Anita! Your bedroom colors sound beautiful! I think a cream or white will definitely compliment your wall colors!
One of my favorite places to order these chalk paint products listed above is Originally Worn, Located in Macon, Missouri! The owner is Amazing!!
Also Me and Mrs. Jones in Memphis, TN is who taught me how to paint furniture. She also sells all of these products and can ship your way if needed! 🙂
Blessings to you on your project!!
After distressing with steel wool and clear wax
Clear wax entire piece correct?
I am planning on black distressing door fronts to a corner cabinet in order to look less dated
Hi Patricia!
Yes you got it! That is correct. After you have distressed with steel wool use clear wax to seal your project. 🙂 I LOVE black wax on cabinets! That will look beautiful!
I cant find where to make my own comment lol but I am new to this and I have a dresser that someone spray painted the drawers black. I am ok with the black in the background because i am doing a Disney inspired look with some black, red, purple, and maybe yellow and/or real. My question is…will the spray paint be enough to get the desired look or should i repaint the black parts with regular paint?
Hi Kayle!!
Are you wanting to distress the black spray paint? If you like the current black that is on the drawers I would leave them as is but if you are wanting to brighten them up you could do a new coat of a chalk based or mineral based paint! 🙂
Oh my gosh, she is adorable!
Thank you!!! lol She is a cutie!!