Probably sacrilege to some, but how about distessing some projects? I really like antiques, I also like to build furniture, but I don't like antique reproductions that look like new. So untill now I have mostly made contemporary looking furniture and I have bought some antique stuff. But for an upcoming project I'd like to make some stuff in 16th/17th century style and I would really like them to look like they have been well preserved antiques. Buying real antiques isn't going to work, because the pieces I need weren't available back then. And if they were available they would be way too expensive for me. My project is going to be "in the style of", not close copies of existing pieces.
So, does anyone have some tips? How to get new wood looking pretty darn old? I will probably use cherry, so it will have to get a suntan for a while at least. The examples I've seen on the internet when I search for distressing aren't always very convincing.