Easy Distressing Techniques

Sanding is not  always required when you are distressing a piece of furniture,other easy distressing techniques can be done if you want a piece to look aged but you don’t want to sand it.

Yesterday I shared” The Truth About Chalk Paint”,you can read it HERE.

A few years ago I wanted to update my dated dining room set,it was bought in the 1990’s,I loved the style but it really needed a fresh look.

This was done when I first started blogging,I had little experience with chalk paint and decided to paint the table using   a latex paint and a primer.

You can read about the reveal ,I share the paint color I used on this post  HERE.

I did not sand the table or chairs to distress it,I wanted an aged look without doing that.

Other reasons I did not sand this piece to distress it is because I used a primer which would be very hard to get through to the wood,and secondly I really did not want to see the underneath wood because it was so light and did not look old.

After this was primed and painted I applied a glaze that I mixed using Annie Sloan dark wax an her clear wax.

As I said this was the early stages of using chalk paint,and I was experimenting.

Her wax is pretty dark and I did not want the dark wax to grab on much that is why I mixed a glaze.

You can just purchase glazes but  I was experimenting and also using what I already had.

This is an easy distressing technique.

The same technique was used on my chairs,this was done two years ago and it has held up wonderfully!

This technique was only done on my table and chairs I decided to use a different color on my cabinet,and since then I have repainted it.

Using a primer and paint method is great because it really holds up well if you don’t want that chippy look.

I have scrubbed this table and no paint has chipped off at all.

You can use a primer and latex paint if you want to distress,but it is much harder to sand through all that paint and primer.

A few months ago I shared a mantle that I painted in my dining room.

This was a thrift shop find and I thought milk paint would be perfect for it.

But it did not go as planned and most of the paint chipped off.

No need to panic I just went with it and added plaster  paint right on top of the chippy milk paint.

This was done mixing latex paint and plaster with a little water too.

I did just a little sanding but also some scrapping using a plastic putty knife,then I added a bit of dark wax on top.

As you can see many layers and different textures.

Sometimes you have to go with it,don’t be afraid to try different techniques.

I  don’t freak out when things go wrong,but I am never looking for perfection.

Milk paint is fun to work with,it is totally different than chalk plaster paint or latex paint.

I have never used a bonding agent with milk paint,my first piece with milk paint was this old corner cabinet.

Not much sanding is required most of the time when you use milk paint,unless you use a bonding agent.

A bonding agent is something you add to the milk paint so the paint will adhere better.

But I love that authentic chippy look so I usually just go for it and see what happens.

I know it sounds crazy and some don’t believe it but yes you can paint fabric with chalk paint.

I found a French chair at a thrift shop,the fabric was pretty dated.

It was my first time using chalk paint on fabric but this was a thrifty find so I was not afraid to paint it.

You see the before and read about it HERE.

Yes we sit in this chair and not it has not cracked at all!

I sealed this with wax,about three coats,it is super soft like leather.

This is a great alternative if you don’t want to reupholster a chair,but the chair must be clean and in good condition.

If you want to experiment painting on fabric or trying different distressing techniques then go to a garage sale or thrift store and shop for the cheapest pieces you can find and just play around.

I would never recommend painting or distressing a treasured piece if you are hesitant about the results.

To distress this I used an antiquing medium I found at a craft store,I just applied a little with a small craft brush and wiped off the excess.

A little goes along way and it’s just another way to easily antique a piece without sanding it.

This was done before I waxed the chair.

That graphic was applied using the Citra Solv method.

You can read about that and find beautiful printable graphics from The Graphics Fairy HERE.

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