Furniture appearance is all that matters especially when it comes to satisfying the aesthetic taste of the owner. While you might think that buying new furniture means striking furniture impressions, that’s not always true. Because there are people who enjoy distressed furniture appearances and don’t like to wait for ages for such furniture transformations.
Basically, distressed furniture is a type that;s been deliberately conditioned for aged and features worn-out appearances. This type of furniture is more commonly recognized under the category of, “furniture with patina”. Mostly, people buy such furniture items from garage sales and flea markets. However, there are DIY techniques that let you convert your furniture piece into a distressed catalog.
And if you’re looking for ways to distress your household furniture, then you’re too lucky to have come across this informative piece of writing by Custom Furniture Dubai. In this article, we’re going to illustrate 6 easy steps to distress household furniture without needing to call for and pay extra to the professionals.
The Step-By-Step Guide To Distress Furniture Items At Home
You must be thinking about the possible reasons for making the furniture look distressed. Well, there are plenty of reasons i.e. heritage acclamation (even though it’s not legitimate), improved furniture appearance, rustic charm, etc. No matter what the reason may be, you can carry out the procedure yourself to impart your furniture pieces an aged, worn-out appearance.
Tools/Equipment Needed
Here is a list of all the essential tools and materials that you should arrange for prior to moving any further in the process.
- Sandpaper
- Paint Brush or Rollers
- Paint
- Polyurethane
- Candle
- Steel Wool
- Stain (Non-mandatory)
- Drop Cloths
- Rags Or Tack Cloths
When you’ve arranged all these materials, you can start with the process as explained in the first step below.
Always Prepare The Surroundings
No need to say that you’re dealing with paint and things can go horribly wrong décor-wise for other elements placed near the desired furniture item i.e. splashes from paintbrush landing on your sofa upholstery or White Carpet maybe, etc.
Therefore, it’s in the best interest of the interior decor and your financial situation to follow some preparatory steps before actually starting with the process. For this purpose, you need to replace easily movable furniture items. Additionally, heavy furniture items should always be covered with drop cloths completely.
One more thing to remember is to take out metallic door knobs and similar hardware accessories from furniture items to work with. That’s because paint splashes or marks landing on such shiny surfaces are non-eradicable.
1. Scrape Furniture With Sandpaper
When all valuable items are covered and all preparations are done, you can start sanding the furniture item using steel wool. For this purpose, there are two different ideas to work with for different furniture finishing’s.
Firstly, if the furniture piece has a gleaming appearance (painted surface), then you need to perform sanding until all the paint is scraped off the furniture surface. Second, if the furniture item is not painted, you need to perform light sanding.
You must be thinking about why sanding should be performed on an unfinished piece of furniture. The answer lies in the fact that even though unpainted, new furniture items have sharp edges and textured appearances that give the impression of novelty.
So, it becomes obvious to alleviate this particular recentness of the furniture item. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to attain that distressed, aged furniture appearance.
2. Clean & Smoothen The Furniture Piece
After you’re done with the sanding process, there will be wood dust accumulated over the furniture item and in the surroundings. You need to clear the area and furniture of this dust to get an idea about if the furniture item has attained your desired outlook or if you should proceed further with sanding.
The ideal way to determine is to check around the edges of the furniture i.e. if they’re somewhat round, then you’re right there, and vice versa.
3. Paint The Furniture Piece
Now comes the tricky part of the process. Yes, painting for distressed furniture is not like how new furniture items are painted. That’s because if done so, the furniture would still be gleaming in appearance and all the effort put into the sanding process would go in vain.
The trick here is to buy two shades of the same color paint to make your furniture look like an item passed from generation to generation. Adding further, you have to apply a darker shade of the paint color as the base layer on the furniture surface.
4. Apply The TopCoat Paint Layer & Wax
Then, you need to wait until the paint layer has settled and dried completely on the furniture surface. After that time, you need to paint the item using a lighter shade of that same color as a thin layer topcoat. Make sure not to apply a second coat for the top layer of the paint.
After the topcoat dries completely, you need to rub various areas of the furniture piece using candles, especially around the corners. Doing so will eradicate the newness of the painted furniture surface and create a harmonious blend for ragged appearances.
5. Distress The Furniture Item Using Steel Wool
Again, you need to perform a light sanding for making the furniture item appear as a genuine landmark of heritage acclamation. For this purpose, just lightly scrape the painted surface with steel wool devoid of using sheer force.
6. Apply The Stain & Protect Furniture With Polyurethane
Next to distressing, you can stain the furniture if you want to and it is not a compulsory part of the process. Because some people have achieved that desirable antique appearance for their furniture items by that time.
Last but not least, you need to apply clear polyurethane on the furniture piece to seal and protect the appearance of the furniture piece. Do not forget to reinstate hardware accessories such as drawer pulls, door knobs, etc after the process completion.
To Conclude
Making your household new furniture item look like an aged, worn-out piece that’s been passed from generation to generation has been made a convenient and fun DIY task. Because this article highlights all the process details that a person should have the know-how to distress furniture items. Now, you need not visit garage stores or flea markets looking for distressed furniture items because you can easily DIY distress your household furniture following the procedure guidelines.