Distressing can make your new bedroom furniture look like beloved heirlooms. The specific type of distressing depends on the individual piece and how you want it to look. You can distress unpainted wood furniture by using various tools and heavy objects to beat up the wood. If you prefer a painted look, layering the paint and sanding certain areas do the trick.
Instructions
Unpainted Wood
1. Move the bedroom furniture outside if possible. If not, place a drop cloth on the floor to collect the dust and wood pieces.
2. Put on safety goggles and work gloves to protect yourself. The flying wood chips, sawdust and splintered wood are a safety hazard.
3. Sand the furniture where it would normally wear with regular use, such as the edges and around the handles. Work with the grain of the wood. Sand gently, and avoid digging into the wood. Start with a fine-grade sandpaper and move on to medium and coarse grades, if you wish, to achieve the distressed look that you want.
4. Pound the bedroom furniture with a hammer to create indentations that might naturally occur over time. Hold a cloth bag of bolts or other hard items, and bang it against the furniture for additional indentations. The size of the bolts affects the size of the dents, so use larger bolts if you want large dents and smaller bolts if you want small dents. Use the claw part of the hammer to knock out small chips of wood, particularly on the legs of the dresser and headboard.
5. Add scratches with a wire brush. Use a wood file to take off additional finish.
6. Focus primarily on the areas that would naturally wear, starting small and adding more distressing as desired. Stop occasionally to inspect the distressing to ensure that you don't go overboard.
Painted Furniture
7. Move the furniture outside, if weather permits, and put it on a drop cloth.
8. Paint the furniture a base color. If the furniture is already painted, you can use that as the base color.
9. Apply the paste wax, using a clean rag. Apply a thin layer, focusing on the areas that you plan to distress. Let the wax rest for an hour.
10. Paint the entire piece with wood glaze, which is your top coat. Let the glaze dry for 24 hours. The wax coat you applied will make it easier to remove the top layer of glaze as you distress the wood to expose the color underneath.
11. Sand the wood with the grain, using a fine grade in the areas you want to distress. Sand as deeply as you want. Move to a medium or coarse grade if the fine sandpaper doesn't remove enough of the finish. Continue sanding until you have achieved the look that you want.
12. Apply a layer of polyurethane over all of the bedroom furniture after you distress it. This seals in the wood and protects it.
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