Antiquing or Distressing furniture/cabinets?
Question:I have some furniture that I would like to antique or distress. Tried the crackle thing, was not impressed. I am looking to redo my kitchen cabinets, but I would like them to look worn.
Answers:
They make it look easy on TV. It's really practice that makes the job turn out right. Home Depot offers some free courses on the weekends. Maybe you can pick up some tips and practice there.
The key to antiquing and distressing is to use two different colors of latex and a glaze over the top. Distressing is the easy part, you can accomplish it by sanding, hitting the furniture with a heavy chain depending on the effect you want. The glaze that is most often used is burnt umber and the second choice is usually burnt sienna, again depending on the effect you are going for. I often will basecoat in a creamy white, go over that with matte black and then sand the edges, areas by handles or that would naturally wear away with use to reveal the basecoat beneath.
Another technique is to paint the basecoat in a creamy white, paint over that with an antique olive green and then come over that with a burnt umber glaze. A lot of the cabinet manufacturers are using a white base, antique white coat and burnt umber over that.
You can save a lot of money making the glaze yourself with one part water, one part Floetrol and one part acrylic or latex paint. Most of the time, you can apply the glaze with an old soft T-shirt to get that distressed appearance.
Check out DIY.com for step by steps or HGTV's site but I always did it by using liquid sandpaper first-an excellenrt product by the way-then painting with a soft white. When I did client's furniture I actually used a really good acrylic paint rather than house paint-and flat. It sands better.
Sand the edges to make it look worn-you don't have to "beat it" with anything-you can but I think a worn look is best. Then use Acrylic clearcoat (I like this because of no fumes and easy clean-up for both myself and clients.) and I'd put a bit of burnt umber brown (a chocolate brown,not a red brown in other words) in it to make my own stain. You could also use a faux finish clearcoat as they are available in quarts and gallons now. To mix up enough equally. Brush it on and then whip it off to have it look worn and stained. I don't like alot so whiping it gives me control. You can always add more. Try it on another piece of wood or the inside of a door to get your swing going! Its work but fun and is a great look.
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