There are many different ways to change the appearance of the furniture you have, or any other object. One of the ways is to do a distressed wood finish. When you do a distressed wood finish, you’re really giving yourself the opportunity to bring an amazing piece of furniture to life before your very eyes. Distressing is a way of making something that is made of wood, or just about any other material, look older and more weathered. It is usually considered decorative art, because it is changing the way the item is seen to make it more pleasing to the eye. Also, distressed wood finishing is considered a finishing technique, because it is something you do that leads to the final design of the piece of furniture. Even though it’s called distressed wood finishing, it’s actually the opposite of finishing, because you take an end product that looks new and do things to it to make it look older and more weathered.
When you age a piece of wood, you deliberately make it look older. This may mean destroying or manipulating the object’s current finish to make it look less than perfect. You can do this with sandpaper and also something like paint remover. Sometimes you can remove some of the layers of paint, but not all, so there may still be layers of paint visible on a wood grain underneath. After you have aged the item, you will have a finished product.
In many ways, distress has become an art form and a way to decorate furniture and other items in a popular and stylish way. Distressed is meant to give an item an antique or unique look, which is usually meant to be old and rustic.
Distress is another kind of distress for wooden furniture. When someone antiques, he’s not just trying to make a piece look older, he’s also trying to make the piece look antique. There are several different ways to do it. First of all, the finish is often weathered, which means sanders are used to remove some of the paint and make everything look older. Second, the craftsman often applies historically accurate paint colors and applies an antique-style faux finish. Sometimes crackle varnishes are used. Sometimes, to complete the antique method of distress, the craftsman applies accent details that were only found in that particular time period, such as knobs on dresser drawers or other details that would make the piece look antique. Sometimes glazes are used. With glazing, after weathering, the colors blend into the cracks and give it an older or older look. Often times, if a person wants to continue the distress to achieve the old look, it is a time-consuming process that could end up being a lot of work.
Another aspect of distressing is putting on things that are made to look natural. For example, distressing often includes putting in fake woodworm holes. These are holes in the piece that appear to have been made by woodworm.
There are many ways to age an item, whether the craftsman is making antiques or simply aging. First, they might sand the finish off the actual wood item. They can do it by hand or with an electric sander. Also, they may dent and scratch the object on purpose, to make it look like it has a long history and has been moved around a lot.
Sometimes the wood is hammered to soften it, and sometimes it is hammered to give it a dimpled appearance. It can also be bleached, stained, stripped or repainted with crackling paints and varnishes. These will crack after drying, giving the appearance that the paint or varnish has cracked over time.
Sometimes antique paints and varnishes are used, which also add to the appearance of an older wooden item. Another technique includes thinning regular paint so it appears faded and thinner than it would be new. This allows other layers of paint, or the wood itself, to show through the layer of paint. Another distressing technique requires the pain or varnish to be applied in layers with sponges, which will create an irregular pattern. When an area is painted, the corners and edges are often painted lighter or sanded so that the item appears worn.
The goal of all these different deterioration methods is the same: to make the item look older than it is, and to make the item look worn and not in as good shape as a newer item. Distressed wood furniture is often preferred because it seems to have more character and seems to have a history and story behind it. Therefore, distressed wood furniture is quite popular, even if it is something that a person makes for himself. One can take a normal piece of furniture and age it to make it look even better.
