Being a bit low on funds post-university it was hardly realistic for me and my boyfriend to get all new stuff when we moved in together. One of the ways I was able to spruce up our flat on a budget was to reinvent some of the furniture we already had from our parents’ houses and to make it into a matching bedroom suite of lovely distressed french style painted furniture. To date I have done up our bed (previously a toxic orange shade of pine), a large wardrobe that had previously been painted bright blue for my brothers room! and a small matching chest of drawers that I also fitted out with new handles. All of these were no hope items you would have been able to get in the local YMCA! and now they look fantastic.
Firstly a quote from my good old granddad Ron comes to mind! “your paint finish is only as good as your surface preparation and undercoat” not very catchy i’ll admit but it does the job and he does know his stuff!
With this in mind I purchased some wet and dry paper (the black kind) and some sugar soap powder from my local diy shop and got to work, rubbing down the original paint or varnish surface to provide a key. I didnt go to town on this as I was not looking to achieve a modern polished effect but I rubbed down all over to roughen the texture to allow the paint to adhere. After this was done I washed the furniture down with sugar soap and then again with fresh water and then allowed to dry.
Because I wanted an antiqued finish, I then used an old candle and rubbed wax on to all the edges of my furniture. This may sound strange but the idea is that the paint won’t properly stick on these areas and when the whole thing is dry you can flake away the waxed areas to reveal the wood underneath. This gives an aged distressed sort of look. It works best if you try to imagine which areas would have experienced most wear and tear if your bed/ wardrobe was 100 years old and apply the wax to these. For example handles, edges, finials etc.
When the surface was completely prepped I started with a medium sized brush to apply an undercoat in white to my items. After this I chose a matt eggshell finish wood paint to provide a finish that would be more durable and dirt resistant than emulsion but still give that chalky finish. I think that a gloss or satin paint would be too modern looking and ruin the overall effect. I also think that this effect works best in vintage pale looking shades of cream, sage green, mushroomey taupe or pale dusky blues/ pinks. Anything too ‘chemically’ or bright in colour will also look completely wrong. I chose an antique cream for the wardrobe (also adding vintage brass handles from ebay) and a pale sage green for my bed. Once painted all there is to do its scratch away at the waxed areas to distress the look of the finish et voila! French chic for practically no money. ooh la la indeed!
Written by hannahB
Recent graduate with a degree in History and Masters’ in Eastern European studies.