Basic furniture aging
First, apply a clear coat of satin sealer. When it’s dry, sand
the piece to blunt the edges and round off any sharp corners. You
can sand doors or around knobs to recreate the signs of wear. This
can also be done by strategically pounding away with a rough or
heavy object, like a flower pot or frying pan, to create dents or
scuffs on surfaces.
Basic furniture aging
First, apply a clear coat of satin sealer. When it’s dry, sand the piece to blunt the edges and round off any sharp corners. You can sand doors or around knobs to recreate the signs of wear. This can also be done by strategically pounding away with a rough or heavy object, like a flower pot or frying pan, to create dents or scuffs on surfaces. Be careful, you don’t want to go overboard. Use a lighter pounding tool if you’re gouging too much out of the piece. A thin drill bit can replicate termite holes.
The trick is to make it look real, so you want to avoid making your marks look too uniform. You should study genuinely aged furniture to see the patterns of slow wear. Note that the legs of chairs and the areas around the knobs on drawers get more wear than other parts of those pieces. You can use a coarse file to really distress parts of the piece that get heavy abuse over time.
Another great distressing technique is to take a fine-point black marker and create a few specks on the legs and arms. A special technique for creating black rings is done by spraying black paint on the bottom of a tin can, then pressing the can on the wood to create a black ring. This works best on tabletops, not chairs. It’s a much faster way to create water rings than placing a water glass on the surface and waiting forever for the ring to set in.
To get that warm, antique golden color, use a stain. That’ll also help the marks you’ve made show up better. But don’t use a gleaming varnish – special wood oil will help protect the wood and won’t give it that brand new shine.
Finally, when the stain has dried – you can lightly sand the first coat down and reapply a second or even third coat if you’re ambitious – apply some dark furniture paste wax for a soft, worn look that really brings out the distressing you’ve done.
Source: DIYnet.com
Aging already painted items
If your furniture is painted, you can give it the crackled appearance that comes when old finishes expand and contract because of temperature changes. You can also apply the crackled-paint look to baseboards, molding and windowframes or other newly painted areas you’d like to have look a little distressed.
You can achieve this look with white glue and water. Mix the two together so the glue is watered down enough to be brushable. Paint the glue mix over surfaces and let it dry until it becomes tacky. Then paint over it with a topcoat of color. To achieve big cracks, paint thickly, and for smaller cracks apply the topcoat thinly.
Don’t go overboard with the brushstrokes, though. Too much and the paint will start to come off.
Let the paint dry, and as it does, it will crack.
You can also simply use special crackle paint sold in craft stores. Follow the directions on the can.
Source: About.com
Creating a worn paint look
Hand paint or spray paint your piece the desired color. Dab a rag or paper towel with a paint remover. Rub wherever you want to mimic worn paint. Note that you need to apply the paint remover before the paint has passed it’s curing time. This technique really works wonders on items like pottery, terra cotta, woven surfaces such as baskets, lattice, and chair caning. It also works well on rough hewn pieces where you just want to remove the paint from the upper most surface leaving paint in grooves and crevices.
Source: CreatingHomeDecor.com
Creating a chipped paint look
Use cotton swabs, old rags, sponge brushes or even fingertips to apply a medium coat of petroleum jelly to edges and surfaces that you’d like to distress or mimic peeling or worn paint. Paint a heavy coat of latex paint onto the surface; allow to dry overnight. Using a clean, soft cloth, rub the surfaces of the painted item to “peel” paint off on petroleum jelly coated areas. Make sure to clean the surface well and remove all petroleum jelly as this will act as a resist for any glaze, antiquing pigment or varnish you try to apply after using this technique.
Source: CreatingHomeDecor.com
Aging planters, flower
pots and garden decorations
To age concrete, stone or terra-cotta pieces – planters, birdbaths, statuaries, etc. – you’ll need latex paint (gray-black, brown-green, soft white and blue-green), a few large sponges, some cotton rags and some plastic containers.
Mix all the paint colors in separate plastic containers to a 50/50 ratio of paint and water. Add more of either as needed or desired (the concrete will soak up the mixture very quickly so you may need to add more color).
Use a damp sponge to apply the gray-black color over the entire piece, allowing it to drip deep into the crevices. Use a clean rag to rub some away, creating various tones of the color. Use another damp sponge to apply the brown-green color, and then rub the paint into various areas for more texture/interest. Remove excess with a rag. Dab the white into crevices to resemble limestone deposits that develop with time on concrete pieces. Let some drip and wipe away excess. Add blue-green to highlight the raised designs. Wipe away excess.
Source: HGTV.com
Make the moss of it
To accelerate the growth of moss and lichen on brick and flower pots in your garden, you’ll need moss, buttermilk, and a container.
Put the moss and the buttermilk (enough to make the moss moist) in the container. Pour the mixture into the cracks on a walkway or wall and more moss will grow soon.
To age a pot, spread the mixture on the item and place it in an oven set on low for 30 minutes. Let the pot cool and rub off the extra moss as desired.
A less immediate aging technique is to take some yogurt, mix it in a little water, and paint the mixture on a flower pot or brick, either fully coating the surface or streaking it. Moss and lichen will quickly start to grow from the rich, yogurty surface.
Source: HGTV.com
Distressing metal
Creating an aged, rusted look in metal is not as easy or quick as distressing wood, pottery or brick. It generally requires a special enhancer available in some paint stores, which encourages the finished piece to rust in a shorter amount of time, when a conducive environment for rust is maintained, i.e., water, sun and wind.
After applying the enhancer, seal the piece with a wax to prevent further rust and to enhance the dramatic array of deep colors formed during the distressing process. The result is a stunning irregularity of browns and reds, with highlights and continual variations of tone.
Source: TileFurniture.com
Other painting techniques
There are a myriad of ways to achieve an aged, textured look via painting furniture, interior walls, floors and ceilings, trim, windows and doors. Ragging, sponging, stamping, scumbling – these techniques and others are great ways to spice up the standard paint job.
Check your local bookstore and the Internet for books and tips on the subject. The sources in these tips offer much more on aging than listed here. Experiment, but don’t bite off more than you can chew – professional painters spend years mastering some of these techniques.
One great way to learn more: Volunteer for your local community theater’s stage crew. Talk to the experienced set designers and prop masters to pick up the tried-and-true methods they use to distress stage sets and furniture.
A pair of old blue jeans
Now, what to do about those jeans? They fit you perfectly, but they’re so blue – not what you’re looking for, but they don’t have any other colors in your size.
Well, this one’s a little tougher than antiquing your furniture. Making your jeans look broken-in takes pumice stone and a washing machine – and faith that you won’t ruin a major appliance.
Basically, you stick your jeans and some broken-up pumice stone (not too big) into your washing machine and let ‘er rip.
Large clothing companies use enzymes, ceramic balls, sand and other items to achieve the same result, with less wear-and-tear on the material. If you do decide to put rocks in your washer, best of luck and don’t blame us.
