How to take wood furniture & paint it to look distressed & old like shabby chic style?

u have some good answers here.





if u want the wood to show thru the paint... this is what i do, i take the area's that i want to show thru %26amp; rub candle wax on it. Then I take acrylic paint or latex ( depending on the size of furniture) w/ some water %26amp; glaze.. %26amp; u can 1of 2 things.. 1) paint the whole thing... or 2) jst do a DRY BRUSH effect ( put some paint on end of brush %26amp; dab off on old towel then brush) Try it on the back to c what effect u like. Then depending on how mch paint u want, u may have to do anthr coat. Dry... then take either steel wool or lt lt sand paper %26amp; go over the areas that u put wax... that will protect the wood plus show it thru.





Now if u want it to look really really old.. like knicks... then take a hammer %26amp; pound it w/ the front %26amp; back of the hammer. or w/ a flat head screw driver... THEN when u r down doin this or the procedure ABOVE...^ then (2) techniques... 1) old shoe wax... rub on %26amp; then buff off ( it gives us a slight protection) 2) take color of u'r choice %26amp; mix w/ glaze %26amp; brush on %26amp; wipe off lightly.





Depending on the piece.. u'll need to varnish it when thru... esp if it's end table/coffee table at least the top so u can clean it or chairs that will b seaten in from shoe scruffs... etc..





u can also ck http://www.hgtv.com or http://www.diynetwork.com





have fun~How to take wood furniture %26amp; paint it to look distressed %26amp; old like shabby chic style?
take an old chain and slap the furniture with it. Paint a dark color, let it dry. rub Vaseline on the places you want to look worn (arm, seat, legs) just in places. Paint a contrasting color, let it dry. Rub it down lightly with steel wool, repeat as many times as you want to add years. The steel wool will remove the paint from the areas with Vaseline and it will look like normal wear.How to take wood furniture %26amp; paint it to look distressed %26amp; old like shabby chic style?
Just before painting take a paint brush and do small streaks of water with the brush. Leave the majority of the surface dry. When you paint over it the paint will not stick well to the wet parts. I do it small streaks. Let it dry and then rough up the surface litely with a course sand paper. The part that was wet will chip.





For a layered distressed look paint a lighter color first and dry, then do the process discribed above.





Another way is to leave it outside un painted and stripped to be weathered. When it gets like you want it then distress paint it like above.





Another way to distress paint is to add water to the paint, 5-10% dont mix it. Very slowly poor the water in. let the water stand on the top. dip brush just deep enough to touch the paint below the water line.