How Do I Distress a Piece of Furniture?

Wooden chairs painted black and distressed.

There are no rules when it comes to distressing furniture. Furniture is easy to distress using common household items, or small tools from a garage or toolbox. People can get creative with distressing; making pitted or chipped patterns in the process, or go for an overall weathered look. Most easy-to-distress pieces of furniture are made of wood. Plastic furniture can be distressed if it is painted first, with techniques applied to the paint to give it a worn appearance.

Things You'll Need

• Old newspaper
• Old clothes
• Dust mask
• Protective eye goggles
• 320 grit sandpaper
• Clean paintbrushes
• Electric sander
• 150 grit sandpaper
• Ice pick
• Scraping tool
• Putty knife
• Mild detergent
• Bucket
• Stick
• Protective gloves
• Scrubbing brush
• Garden hose
• Spray paint
• Latex paint
• Primer
• Sea sponge

Instructions

1. Put old newspaper on the floor around the furniture. Open up windows for proper ventilation, and seal off air-conditioning ducts to prevent wood dust from circulating through the filter. Wear old clothes, a dust mask and protective eye goggles. Work on furniture outside, weather permitting.

2. Sand painted furniture with 320 grit sandpaper. Sand in sections to give the furniture a distressed look. Don’t oversand or remove all the paint from the furniture. The trick is to distress, not strip the furniture. Remove wood dust with a clean paintbrush. Sand big pieces of furniture quicker with an electric sander. Sand in the direction of the grain. Don’t sand delicate table or chair legs with the sander, however; use 150 grit sandpaper instead, and sand by hand in the direction of the grain.

3. Chip away at the furniture with an ice pick or any other sharp utensil. Chip in bigger sections around the edge. Use a scraping tool, such as a putty knife, to scrape up sections of wood where there are chips. Lift up enough wood to give the furniture an antique appearance, but don’t overdo it. The trick is to distress, not dramatically alter the condition to where the furniture becomes damaged.

4. Clean plastic furniture with mild detergent mixed in a bucket of water. Put two capfuls of detergent in water and mix with a stick. Put on protective gloves, and dip a scrubbing brush into the water. Let it soak for a few minutes and begin scrubbing furniture. Make sure to get a lot of sudsy soap on the furniture while scrubbing. Rinse with a garden hose. Repeat if necessary, and rinse. Let air dry.

5. Apply one coat of primer to plastic furniture with a clean paintbrush. Let it dry. Spray-paint or apply latex paint made for plastic furniture in even strokes. Let the first coat dry, then apply a second coat. Before the second coat fully dries, take a sea sponge, and pat at the furniture in sections to give the furniture a splotchy appearance.

References

• Repair-Home: Distressing Wood: Getting the Faux Finish You Want
• Sherwin-Williams: Faux Finishing FAQs