Country...Primitive...Antique...

[Harold Burrell]

I am looking for resources (online) to help in learning to distress and finish for a country/primitive look.

Thanks.

[Phil Phelps]

What kind of wood will you be distressing? Are you going for a natural aged, weathered look?

[Harold Burrell]

What kind of wood will you be distressing? Are you going for a natural aged, weathered look?

Oh, boy...now you are going to find just how ignorant I am...

I will be mostly working with pine, though some of the table tops will be oak. The things that my wife have me working on for her now are dining room furniture. The hutch will be rather large. She is looking to have the the bottom and the outside of the hutch painted (with a flat color). While the top and the inside will be stained (if that makes sense).

The effect we are looking for is "aged". Subtle, but authentic.

[Dennis Lopeman]

Aging takes practice... and practice takes time... and time makes you age... LOL

I suggest getting a bunch of scrap and just start doing. Go to a thrift store and look for similar stuff you can beat up and throw out (or re-donate! LOL)

Is the furniture edged? Proly, huh!?

Painted what color? White? Off white. You can age it with stain... make it look a little dirty. Wipe on the stain, wipe it off after a little while, but let it get in the nooks and crannies. maybe even sanding some of the edges (distressing) and do the stain trick - wipe of the exposed wood sooner - you just want it to be "dirty". Then maybe a light satin clear coat over all that to "protect" it!

I did a bunch of stuff like this way back when I went to college. I was living out of this ladies house (room rent) and she had an "antique" furniture biziness. Well, NONE of her stuff was antique!! She would just distress it and age it... but I did learn and participate in it and picked up a lot. She actually took some really nice stuff that would have been easy to for real restore, and she would "ruin" it. And people bought it!! I really like to restore stuff and try to return it to newish... like stripping down, re-staining and re-varnishing REAL antiques...

There also some Crackle fishing you could do. Just cruze the BORG paint aisle and you'll see all sorts of stuff for this kind of art!

You can also get a Hot Air gun (hair dryer looking thing, but much hotter) and hit paint and varnish with that. It'll "naturally" crackle and bubble... Makes things look like they were in front of a sunny window for years. Makes the paint peel... like in an old window frame type idea...

Bird feathers are good for adding random paint marks. Also good for marbling.

Splatter - use a paint brush and stand way back and "fling" stain/paint at the thing. Maybe smudge it after it dries slightly.

missed hammer hits around joints, like some "careless" fixer upper person tried to do a repair at some time...

I guess a lot depends on what kind of Aging you are going for. You said subtle. Well, the sandpaper trick on edges and stain dirt is a good start. Random bumps and bruises (oh and don't use the same object to do all the bumps!!! I have a wierd eye that picks up that easily and can't stand it - SO unimaginative!)

[Ed Griner]

There was gent in new england who set out to fool everyone and did by burying his wood on the beach.I believe this was oak. Good Luck/Ed