How To Wet-Distress a Chalk Paint Finish

Many of you have asked for a step-by-step lesson to show how I get the subtle distressed finish on some of my furniture projects.  The subject of today's lesson is an oak end table, part of the set that matches the coffee table that I showed you in THIS POST last week. 

When I distress a piece of furniture, I try to simulate the effects that time and use (and a bit of abuse) would have had on it.  There are no random sanded spots here and there ... every worn place is well thought out, as if that part of the piece has been bumped by brooms and mops and vacuum cleaners and toy trucks, scraped across the floor, and wiped down and polished for decades.  The idea is to wear down the top layer of paint to reveal the perceived history of the piece underneath.

Here is the After ... settle in, and I will show you how it got this way.

As we start the lesson, the subject table already has coats of three colors of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint:  coat #1 is Graphite, coat #2 is Olive, and coat #3 is Aubusson.  (I didn't photograph the painting part of the job ... I'm going to assume that you already know how to do this, so let's skip ahead.)

The supplies for wet distressing are probably underneath your kitchen sink right now ... a ScotchBrite scouring pad and a small bucket for water.

The process is simple ... use the wet scouring pad to gently scrub the corners and edges and the high parts of the turnings, edges, and corners to reveal the color underneath.  Scrub with the coarse part of the pad, wipe the area clean and refine the distressing with the sponge side.  Rinse your pad often as you work.  Go easy so you don't scrub completely through the paint at this point.  You can work across the grain, with the grain, or scrub in circles ... experiment to see what gives you the look that you want.

 

 

 

I love how the careful distressing brings out the details of the wood grain and accents the table's contours.  The top coat of Aubusson stays in the recesses, and the colors underneath are revealed in the high spots and wear areas.

I wanted this table to be even MORE worn looking, so I used the scouring pad and my fingernail to scratch the paint off down to the bare wood in select spots.  I only did this in places that could really have received this sort of abuse ... more on the lower portions of the table legs, where brooms and boots would have made contact, and none on the upper parts.

The side of the table looks like this when the distressing is finished.

 

As I look at the results on this table, I realize that the Graphite layer doesn't show up very well and probably wasn't necessary.  If I do this color combination again, I will just use Olive and Aubusson and skip the Graphite.

The table now ready for me to add even MORE detail and personality with glaze ... which will be our next lesson.  Stay tuned.

Sofa Slipcover Progress

With the pattern I made from the first cushion in hand, it was a fairly straight-forward process to assemble the cover for my living room sofa's second seat cushion.

Dorothy approves.

Next step, fitting and figuring out how to do the arms of this thing.  I hope to work on this on Sunday, while the temperature outside is frigid and some predicted frozen precipitation is falling from the sky .. that is, if the storm doesn't knock out our power.  (I am hoping that the Weather Gods keep the ice accumulation to a minimum for us ... or skip it all together.)

Stay warm, Everyone!

A Glimpse of Thursday, from Alice's Perspective.

It's Ladybug Season.  The outside Ladybugs are doing what they can to become inside Ladybugs, so they can hibernate the winter away in comfort.  This old house has ample cracks and tiny spaces that allow them entry.  When they come in, Alice takes it upon herself to monitor their activity.

Thank goodness we don't get the scourge of Ladybugs that I have heard that some people have in their houses in winter.  We only get a few ... enough to keep Alice occupied and out of trouble, but not so much as to be a problem.

My Best Tool for Stripping Table Tops

Slipcovering the sofa is only one part in my reclamation plan for our living room ... another one is painting and refinishing a set of tables that I got from my sister-in-law.  Yesterday's warm temperature was perfect for doing the messy, best-done-outdoors part of the project, stripping the tops. 

Exhibit A:  one 1970s coffee table, solid wood, heavy as all get-out, and definitely ready for a makeover.

The finish is in pretty awful shape, which makes it even easier to strip off.  I read about all sorts of methods of doing this on blogs ... most of which are messy, time-consuming, and produce less-than-stellar results.  Believe me when I tell you that there is a MUCH better way. 

For a table top like this, I pull out my trusty Bahco carbide pull scraper with a 2-inch blade.  I have tried other brands, and this one is my favorite.  The blades for this thing are sort of expensive ($10 or so apiece), but they are sharp as a kitchen knife and they last for a long, long time.  This tool makes the job go easier and faster ... think about it in terms of how much your time worth ... if it takes less time and produces better results, I'm all for it.

The idea is to scrape off as much of the lacquer as possible, using a pulling motion with the scraper.  If you simply try to sand the stuff off with an orbital sander, the lacquer melts and makes hard globs on your sanding disk ... and you get those little spiral marks on the wood.  It requires some practice and finesse to get the hang of scraping, but it's also a great way to work on those problem areas that some of us have on our upper arms ... just sayin'.

Let's start the clock and see how fast this project goes:

10:25 am -- just getting started.

11:15am -- all the finish is scraped off.

11:30am -- all finished.  Sanded with my orbital sander, 150 and 220 grit sandpaper.

Here is a close-up, all stripped and sanded and ready for stain.

The paint finish I'm planning looks best with a dark top, so I pulled out my trusty can of Rustoleum stain in 'Kona'.  This is what the top looked like after an application of stain pre-conditioner and one coat of stain.

Now that all the messy stuff is finished, I can work on the rest of the job inside in my workshop.  Still to come, varnish on the top and a 4-step paint finish on the base of the table.  Here is a preview, as seen in this grainy, low light iPad photo of one of the end tables that I finished as a test piece.

Here's a little word about my scraper ... I have had this scraper for about a million years.  I bought it at a specialty paint shop in downtown Fredericksburg, which went out of business last year (undoubtedly a victim of the onslaught of big-box stores).  This isn't the kind of thing that you'll find at Lowes or Home Depot.  They have their own brands of carbide scrapers, made in China, of course, and I haven't been as happy with their versions as I am with my little orange-handled Bahco.  (which is made in Sweden) 

My new source for replacement blades is The Paint Shop in Warrenton.  Small business shopping at its finest ... support your local businesses so they can continue to carry the fine-quality items that mainstream retailers don't bother with.  The Paint Shop has other specialty tools, as well as Farrow and Ball paint, and all sorts of other wonderful temptations.  (not a sponsored post ... just ramblings of a very, very satisfied customer.)

I think today is a good day to get started on the paint.  More about this later, I promise.

Project Helpers

On Sunday, I decided to start a new project ... one that has been on my mind for a while ... one that seems like a perfect thing to do during the time spent indoors while the weather is cold this winter.  I am planning to slipcover the sofa in our living room.

This sofa is identical to the red one in our family room.  We bought them for our living room at a former house, which was huge and could easily handle the visual weight of two very large red sofas.  Neither the living room or family room in this house can do that, so we have one sofa in each room. 

The cotton damask upholstery on both of them is showing its age ... splitting and shattering in a couple of spots on the now-underside of the cushions and snagged and torn on the corners from Maggie's habit of sharpening her claws on them.  The shape of the sofas is perfect for slipcovering and everything except the fabric is in great condition, which the main reason that I have held onto them for so long.  Another reason is that I cannot in all good conscience spend $$$ on furniture to have it become another victim of Maggie and her claws.  (I know that you are about to suggest ways to train Maggie or to encourage her to scratch elsewhere.  Take my word for it, I've tried it all.  She is now 12 years old, and I accept that there are things about her that I cannot change.  Her scratching is one of them.)

Anyway, back to the slipcover plan ...

Sunday morning, bright and early, I broke out my supplies and got started.  For the rest of the day, while watching football games on TV, I pinned and snipped and sewed.  I had help while I worked.  Ruby used her head to hold down the fabric, while I was pin-fitting the box-edge of the cushion.

Dorothy is always involved in any sort of crafty project.  She gets right into the middle of things ... very serious about her job as Quality Control Supervisor.

At the end of the day, I had finished exactly ONE cushion.  It took a while for me to cut and sew all the cording that I needed, and to figure out the pattern to accurately fit the cushion's odd shape.  I am extremely pleased with how this turned out.  I tried it onto the family room sofa to step back and admire my handiwork, and because the light in there was better for taking a picture of it.

Do you see all the cat scratching on the arm of the sofa?

I am resigned to the fact that finishing the rest of the slipcover is going to be a slow process.  I learned to sew when I was 12, and I have made just about everything you can think of in that time ... except for a slipcover.  I'm learning and figuring this out as I go, which takes a lot longer.  I will work on it whenever I'm stuck inside, and I will be pleased to show the finished result to you when it finally happens.  In the meantime, don't hold your breath.

Five Years Ago ...

My very first post on this blog was dated November 27, 2008 ... five years ago today.  881 posts later, I have shared a whole lot of stuff in that time.

A view of our house, from 2004, while the mason was at work and before the roof was replaced.  This place has my heart!

 

The central aisle of my Rose Field garden ... when it was perfect.

Writing a blog was The Husband's idea.  Our conversation went something like this:

"You need to start a blog."

"What's a blog?"

"It's where you write about stuff and publish it online for everyone to read."

"That's stupid."

"At least give it a try ... I've already set it up for you."

You already know how this turned out.

A view of our barn, on a sunny spring morning.  The story of its restoration is HERE.

 

The on-going porch project ... shared cardboard mock-ups of porch brackets in 2011 ... still haven't done any of it for real, though.

This started as a way to keep a garden and renovation journal, and to document what I do around here so folks who were interested (especially those who were interested in buying the roses in my brand-new-at-that-time nursery operation) could feel like they were a part of the place.  I found this to be way too restrictive for my all-over-the-spectrum interests, so things quickly evolved to include whatever was on my mind, or in my garden or workshop.  This blog is me, after all ... and I wanted to have more freedom to share and explore more parts of myself.

Maggie, my miracle kitty, snoozing in the sunny south-facing family room window.

 

Silly Dorothy ... curled up with her sister Alice on the sofa.  I think that everyone should adopt sister kittens.

 

Sweet Daniel ... he's been gone since May ... I still miss him terribly.

During this process, I have learned a lot about myself and I have met so many wonderful people from all over the world.  What I thought would be a solitary pursuit is anything BUT solitary!  We have conversations, both here and off-line via email, which makes this one of my very favorite places to be.

Basement workshop.  This work island is one of the most useful things I have ever made.  Click HERE to see how I built it.

 

Sanding the mantel in the family room.  I spent months stripping paint from all the moldings and walls in this old place ... see my heat gun and trusty carbide scraper in the background.

It seems appropriate for this anniversary to fall on the day before Thanksgiving, the day each year that we Americans set aside to reflect on and be grateful for the many blessings that we receive.  Thank you, thank you for visiting my little corner of cyberspace as often as you do, for reading what I write, and for caring enough to reach out and leave your thoughts behind in the comments ... I count each of you among MY blessings.

A Quick Chalk Paint Project

Years ago, when we were in the throes of the most major portion of the whole-house remodel here at our old place, we hired a company to reline the fireplace that vents our boiler in the basement.  The boiler and three fireplaces share a huge chimney, which had deteriorated in places to the point of being dangerous.  While they had the scaffolding assembled, and the equipment on site, it was more cost-effective to have the living room fireplace relined along with the work on the boiler flue.  (The living room is directly above the room with the boiler.) 

One aspect of the living room part of the job was to reset some of the brick in the firebox, and to parge the whole thing with fireclay.  This made the fireplace safe to use, but I hated the look of it from the moment they did it.  (we haven't had a fire in it, though ... but we could if we wanted to.)  We are rarely in our living room.  It was the room that had the most challenges to overcome while we were renovating, so we made the decision to close the door and deal with it later ... instead of slowing down the progress on the rest of the house.

The mantel is leaning against the wall, and the brick surrounding the firebox needs attention.  These are projects for another time.

As I was looking at the ugly firebox yesterday, while in the room retrieving a couple of project pieces, I had a brainstorm ... Chalk Paint!  Annie Sloan's paint would be the perfect thing to use to get rid of the ugly, just-plastered look of our antique fireplace.

I ran down to my workshop, grabbed my can of Graphite ASCP, poured some into a container and added some water (probably a 1:1 ratio), and this is the result:

The hanging chain controls the damper at the top of the flue.  I bought the brass fireplace fender at a junk shop a few months ago.

Much better!  Graphite is a good dark grey, which sort of simulates the look of a old smoky used fireplace.  (When we actually USE this room and the fireplace, which I'm working toward doing, we can get some REAL smoky sooty stuff on there to complete the look.)  The mantel is still leaning against the wall and the brick surround will wear its patchwork of crumbling plaster for the foreseeable future, but that's okay.  At least the firebox itself looks better now. 

It feels great to spend so little time on a nagging project, and to have it make such a difference.