How to distress wood
When we started this business, it became immediately clear that people love the distressed look. When I say love, I mean looooooooove, the distressed look. People order things distressed in every color of the rainbow. I've even done furniture in a distressed black color, which I didn't even know was a thing until it was asked for.
A lot of people have asked me how we get that look, so I decided to write an article explaining my process. If you look elsewhere online you'll find a hundred different ways of doing it, and most likely mine is far from the "right" way, but alas, it is the way I came up with and I like it.
I've sprinkled some pictures in between the paragraphs to give examples of the finished project, but also to give you some distressed wood eye candy :)
To artistically distress wood the way I do, you need (usually) two colors. I like to use stain and paint in different colors so that I can pull out a really cool contrast. Alternatively, you can (and I have) use a propane torch to burn the edges of your piece and use paint as the contrast color. Besides your contrasting colors, you'll also need some form of sandpaper. A lower grit count, around a 60 or an 80 will distress quickly and roughly, while a higher count, like a 220, will do a slightly more gentle and subtle job.
I like to start any distressing project by sanding first. I usually use a 120 grit paper to sand the wood clean and smooth. I'll usually use a belt or palm sander, but you don't have to if you don't own either of those tools. The goal here is to make the piece safe to handle. You want to be careful not to sand off the cool saw marks or wood grains that will be accentuated by the
distressing.
After sanding, it is time for your first color. I usually start with a darker color, this way when I'm done, it will be the color peeking through the distressing. Generally, at this stage I'm staining. On the floating shelf piece directly above this paragraph, I used a super dark stain color called Kona. Your best bet is to completely stain it, as dark as you can, while wiping excess stain off as you go. You want that color embedded in the wood so that you don't sand it off later.
Once the stain dries it's time for the second color. At this point you want to use some discretion on how much paint you apply. The more distressed you want the piece to be, the less paint you want to use. Try to keep your brush strokes going in the direction of the wood grains. That allows the paint to settle into grooves in the wood without gunking up on the surface. Often times, I'll use a piece of scrap wood as a palette and wipe most of the paint off my brush, leaving it nearly dry. This technique puts the paint on top of the grooves, rather than in them. Rather than looking like the paint has worn off over time, your distressing will look more like dirt has settled in the cracks and grooves. As unappealing as that sounds, it's actually quite stunning, and a very popular look.
After the coat of paint dries it is time to sand. Again. This is another point in the process that requires discretion. If you're going for a super-distressed look, go to town with a 60 or 80 grit paper. If you're looking for a more subtle distressing, stick to the higher grit papers.
Start by sanding along the corners and edges. These are areas that would have been the most handled and damaged over the years. This process becomes much easier if you invest in a cheap 1/4 sheet palm sander which you can find at Lowe's or Home Depot starting around $30. Once you are satisfied with your edges and corners, try going across the larger flat areas. Be as light handed as possible, because you want that first color to shine through, not be erased by sand paper.
The final part of my process, which you can skip if you want, is to reinvent the edges and corners. At this point I go back to my scrap piece of wood and glob on a bunch of whatever I want as an accent color. In most instances I'm using a deep brown antiquing wax, but often times I'm using a regular white or gray paint. Once again you are going to want to get some on your brush, but then immediately scrape most of it off on your scrap piece. Using your brush as some kind of punishment device, you are going to slap the edges of your piece back and forth, up and down, creating a thin, uneven, broken line of color. See the close-up below. That dark edge is what you want. It also work in reverse, with a dark base and a light edge. Once you are satisfied with your edging, take a step back and look at your new "old" piece of wood.
(I can't stress enough that you need to stop as soon as you think you're done. If you keep going, you're going to touch up here, and add something there, and before you know it you'll have gone way too far.)
In the picture below we did something slightly different. Instead of doing multiple coats of multiple colors, we painted the entire sign white to start with. Then, we sanded the entire thing. The cool thing about this is that it will leave paint only in the deepest grooves and depressions. This is a really neat way to add a lot of age to anything, but keep in mind, the smoother the wood, the less you're going age to see.
Distressing is a great way to add some character to wood. If you're attempting to refinish an old piece you have around your house, skip the first bit about staining and using two colors, and go right to the painting part. After that you can skip the distressing sanding and go right to the "slapping" part.
Below I've listed some of the things you might need to puchase if you're going to do this.
-Gator sandpaper sheets @ lowes.com - I swear by this brand for sheet sandpaper, but NEVER for belts
