If you were me, would you distress this antique piece?
I LOVE the look of antique furniture that has been painted and distressed - sort of the farmhouse, French country look. You know, a little old teal paint peaking out, maybe some white, etc - while still seeing sanded parts of the wood color. I got this buffet at a steal, only $200 - it's not a family heirloom or anything and I'm seriously thinking of distressing it but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to attack it. Do you think it would look good distressed?
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It looks to be in great condition, and has some fine features, like the feet and some of the wood turning, and the wood grain itself, which has been carefully matched one side to the other, for a pleasing symmetry if you like that sort of thing (they did back then - it's all about the taste and style and fashion of the time, right!). Sometimes the original manufacturers' stickers are still on the back or the base, or the underside of a drawer.
It's not my taste (I prefer Georgian), but I certainly wouldn't distress it - I'd flip it to someone who appreciates its qualities for what they are (imagine it in a sweet little Arts & Crafts home, with all that old oak trim), and buy something with less quality if I wanted to beat it up and play with various "paint effects"!
As D&DBS says.....just my 2 cents....
-First clean the entire piece with paint thinner and fine steel wool to remove any dirt and wax.
-Paint the buffet with a good coat of shellac. This will keep the paint from seeping into the wood completely, in case you ever want to go back to the wood grain.
-Then paint, possibly thinning the paint a little to reduce brush marks and provide a very smoothe finish, applying a second coat if needed, or a second color.
-Then I would lightly sand off some of the high points, like on the decorative moldings and the edges. If you've used a second color, make sure that you're exposing some of both colors, and down to the wood in some places.
-If you go down to the wood in some places, you may want to consider clear coating the entire piece to protect those areas. If you don't like the glossy effect of the clear coat, you can rub the whole thing down with fine steel wool and wax, and then buff.
Good luck! It would be fun to see a picture of the finished product.
I would certainly value bubblyjock's knowledge of this piece..The $$ value may not be substantial however, it is still very beautiful and if it fits with the rest of your decor just leave it in all it's splendor..
http://chrissiescollections.blogspot.ca/2012/07/milk-painted-bufet-turquoise.html
Hope that helps you decide (I really dislike that "distressed" effect on that buffet in the link - just too contrived - jmo).
My intention was to display what beautiful results you can achieve when distressing furniture..
I think the piece of furniture chosen - obviously enough - has an affect on the final look. The piece you posted - 18th century French-ish - looks very good indeed, whereas the piece I posted - imo it was too clunky to pretend to look well-used (oak is simply too tough to ever become distressed!), and she'd really wrecked it with wildly inappropriate handle thingies, etc.
We have lots of aniques (farmhouse style) in our house and I have been toying with the idea of painting some. Up till now I haven't had the courage and I don't think I will bother, because the wood that has been used is so beautiful.
To offset the furniture, I painted my walls in a cream/almond colour instead and used some bright coloured object d'art and vintage glassware to decorate the dressers.
If it would be a small-ish piece of furniture, cheap and cheerful, that is an other thing all together.