bleedinblue Posted November 9, 2016 Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 The wife wants what she wants. I'm building a farmhouse kitchen table. A cherry top and white painted (turned) legs and aprons. Tonight my wife hit me with how she wants a distressed paint, partially sanded through. Whatever. I'm less than enthused with this project, but I just have to live with the fact that the table top will hopefully have some hint of craftsmanship and the crappy trendy base was all her idea. I've done the distressed paint thing before, a couple years ago we refinished a bunch of reclaimed window frames. We painted them one color, let it dry and painted with a contrasting color on top. A light sanding, just enough to go through the top paint color, then some clear on top and done. We rattle canned them. Should I rattle can this table base? Brush them? Burn them? I don't have an HVLP powerful enough for paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted November 9, 2016 Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 Brush. Once distressed it doesn't matter if you see any brush strokes. I feel your pain. I dislike the thought of distressing anything. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post treeslayer Posted November 9, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 41 minutes ago, bleedinblue said: The wife wants what she wants sounds like my wife, she wanted a bakers table distressed for in our kitchen, i waited her out and 3 months later i made one out of walnut and cherry. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 9, 2016 Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 Distressing isn't so bad, if the parts are painted anyway. I'd probably spray (rattle can), so the film would be thinner to sand through. I have found that wet-sanding with 600 grit paper give a more natural "worn-through" look, if you are careful to only do it in areas expected to get wear in normal use. I can't stand the type of distressing that looks like it was beaten with a chain and left outside for years. That's just abuse. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted November 9, 2016 Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 5 hours ago, treeslayer said: sounds like my wife, she wanted a bakers table distressed for in our kitchen, i waited her out and 3 months later i made one out of walnut and cherry. A wife wants what a wife wants, and there's just no avoiding it. That's why there's so much red oak furniture in my house! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted November 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 Oh there's no way I'd do the chain/key/rock gouge thing. In fact the sanding through that I will do will be very minimal, just enough to say I did it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wdwerker Posted November 9, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 The few times I have undertaken the distressed look I inspected some real antique painted pieces and used them as a guide to make the wear appear natural. The inside of legs are unscathed higher up and only lightly in the bottom 1/3. If there is a bead protruding near the base of the leg it gets scraped by chair legs. Adding some sanded wear to the edges of your wood top will help the overall appearance be cohesive. A pristine top with clean sharp edges to the profile would stand out in contrast to a worn painted base. A few notes about the finish schedule on the underside could be useful years from now if someone tries to refinish it. Date the piece even if you choose not to sign it. I hope you will share some pictures of your results. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted November 9, 2016 Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 The guys on Woodtalk show talked about distressing and they had some good points I'd look up those episodes i know they were fairly recently. One of the big things is be conscious of distressing areas that will see wear like corners and edges but stay away from distressing the middle or places that don't typically see wear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 9, 2016 Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 I might of built one of these once but, I'd never admit it.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted November 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 Truth be told, when I posted this last night I was exhausted and distracted. I certainly should have titled this better if nothing else. I'm not too worried about the actual distressing, some sandpaper and ten minutes and done. I refuse to do any gouging or denting. I think my biggest question was whether or not spray paint would be acceptable. It seems wrong to use spray paint, this is a boring build but I'm still dropping quite a bit of cash in material. But, in the end, I think I can get good results with spray, and painting the turned legs by brush seems like it would take forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 9, 2016 Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 You can protect the paint with a satin or dull sheen clear finish if a shine would ruin the affect. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 10, 2016 Report Share Posted November 10, 2016 You can always use milk paint and stop a coat or two short of full coverage for a more aged / faded look, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted November 10, 2016 Report Share Posted November 10, 2016 wtnighlander beat me to it. Milk paint is pretty spiffy for this kind of thing. Also lets you experiment with a new kind of paint if you have never used it before so the project is not a total loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted November 10, 2016 Report Share Posted November 10, 2016 I would use a regular WB topcoat, but I'd brush it on if I didn't have HVLP...rattle cans just cost a lot in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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