Achieving an aged and distressed look on wooden items can be useful for dcor that features antiques, a rustic cottage look or one that cultivates the aura of ’shabby chic’. Distressing wooden doors - on kitchen cabinets, bedroom cupboards or indeed storage units elsewhere in the home - is a way of adding interest to a bland piece of furniture. Several faux painting techniques can assist you in creating a distressed appearance on cabinet doors.
Distressing Techniques
You could give your cabinet doors a managed beating with hammer and chisel to create texture and interest. This will certainly distress your door, but with faux painting techniques you can choose amongst several aged or antique looks and achieve a total finish.
The appearance of age is based on simulating patina. Texture is created when the original color of the wood shows through the faux patination. On top of a base coat another color is applied. Scraping through the wet topcoat to reveal the color beneath creates an impression of depth and hence age. Dragging or combing are two techniques for removing the top layer of wet paint, with different implements producing different textures. Applying paint with a fine brush can also create the effect, but is a more demanding way to achieve the distressed look.
Because the principle of distressing is based on a simulated patina, the base coat will be a lighter color than the faux patinated layer. Shades of brown are obvious choices, but you can use other colors (such as brown and gray) to create different effects and degrees of contrast.
Distressing With Wax:
One of the most popular methods entails using wax to ensure that the base paint layer is exposed. Beeswax is especially suitable though candle and other waxes can be used. The wax is applied in streaks and/or patches and allowed to dry before the second coat is applied. When dry the door is then sanded down. Paint applied on top of the wax comes off easily, exposing the undercoat. Depending on how vigorously you sand, a textured effect with clean ‘wood’ showing through the patinated surface will result.
Distressing With Crackle Glaze:
As varnish on old furniture ages, it dries and cracks in a characteristic crazed pattern. By applying a layer of crackle glaze in between the base coat and top coat, you can replicate this effect. Note that oil paint is not suitable for use with crackle glaze. You need latex paints to get the required effect.
Pickling :
Your cabinet door may not be particularly ugly and may even have an attractive wood grain that you don’t want to conceal with paint. With pickling you can create contrast and texture without covering up the original wood. All you do is paint your door in the contrasting color of your choice and wipe off paint while it is still wet.
Whichever technique you choose, adding texture to plain surfaces is not complicated and can add the finishing touch to your chosen dcor style.
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