Renvations Team
“Antiquing” is one way to add character to furniture you already have in your home. Antiquing furniture is a DIY faux-painting technique that gives the furniture an aged or antique appearance. Whether the piece is new or old, it’s easy to add unique beauty and personality to your decor. Only a base coat of paint and some glaze are needed. The rustic look is a classic that will never go out of style, and if you’ve been tempted to try it, it’s a lot easier than you might think to get this look. One of the best methods to do this in your home is to distress and age the furniture you already have. So get a dresser, table, cabinet, or whatever else you want to look old and learn how to antique furniture.
Methods on How To Antique Furniture
1. How To Antique Furniture – Pick a Glaze or Paint
Different colors were used to make the frames look old. Usually, darker glazes with earth tones are put on top of a light-colored basecoat, like yellow, cream, or beige. But if you like how a lighter glaze looks, you can use a dark base coat instead, as long as the two colours look different.
Don’t forget to think about the finish when you choose to paint. Use a basecoat with a flat finish. Glaze sticks better to a porous finish than a satin or eggshell one. Use a satin finish in a different color for your glaze mixture.
2. Prepare Surfaces
2nd tip to how to antique furniture is to find a good place to work on your project. If you don’t have a workshop, try the garage with the doors and windows open to let air flow through. If the weather is good, you can even work outside. Start by removing all the hardware with a screwdriver or another tool that fits the job.
Sand surfaces that haven’t been finished with medium-grit sandpaper until smooth, then wipe them down with paint thinner or mineral spirits and let them dry. Use a 2″ or 4″ paintbrush or mini-roller to put primer on the unfinished surfaces. Sand surfaces that have been painted with fine-grit sandpaper to get rid of any shiny spots. Then use water and an all-purpose cleaner to clean it. Rinse well and let the surface dry all the way through. Prime any surfaces that aren’t already covered. Make sure to work on a drop cloth or tarp so that cleaning up is easy.
3. Paint a Neutral Color
Pour a little Interior Paint into a pot for mixing. To put on the base coat, you can use a 2″ or 4″ paintbrush or a mini-roller. Let the surface dry for a few hours or a full day. If you don’t need to paint a lot of space, you can put a small amount of paint in a clean coffee can or dip your paintbrush right into the paint can.
4. Apply Glaze
Put one cup of the paint with the different finish and two cups of the glaze in your mixing pot and stir. Now, stir well as you add water a little at a time. You want the paint to be a little runny, but it should still stick to your brush. The glaze mixture must have the right consistency—it needs to be thin enough to let the base coat show through. You can increase the amount of glaze and paint in the mixture if you need to cover a large area. But it’s easier and wastes less when you work with small amounts at a time.
Brush the mixture of paint and glaze on the surface and let it get into the cracks, crevices, and corners. Wait until the mixture has dried a little bit. It will start to look duller. Wet a piece of lint-free cloth with water, and start wiping off the mixture in long, even strokes, working from the middle to the edges. When your fabric gets too wet, switch it out for a new one. Depending on what you want to do, you can take off as much or as a little glaze as you wish. If you’ve removed too much, add more paint and glaze and start over.
Use rolled-up plastic wrap, newspaper, or cheesecloth to wipe off the glaze for different textures and looks. Cheesecloth brings out the grain of the wood, while crumpled newspaper and plastic wrap give the surface a marbled look. You can make a scratched look with a towel. Let the surface dry all the way. After the glaze mixture has dried completely, put a coat of polyurethane on it.
5. Apply Polyurethane
Apply a coat of water-based polyurethane with a high-quality brush or high-density foam mini-roller to make it shine and last longer. Please wait until the polyurethane is completely dry before putting the piece back where it belongs in your home.
6. Cleanup
The last best way on how to antique furniture is to get your drop cloths or tarps and paint cans together. Throw away used paint and empty cans in the right way. Use warm, soapy water to clean your mixing bowl and brushes. Nice work! By giving your existing stuff and decor an antique look, you’ve given your home a vintage look without even going to an antique store. Now sit back, take it easy, and wait for the compliments to start coming in.
Why Should We Consider Buying Antique
Heritage Arts and other well-known interior design firms still swear by using antique-style furniture. But before buying antique furniture, it’s a much better idea to learn about its benefits. You can get many benefits from vintage furniture that even new furniture can’t give you. Today, with how to antique furniture tips we’ll also tell you four reasons why you should choose vintage design over new furniture.
· Timeless
Moveables from the past are always in style. It’s been in the past for a long time. Because of this, you can be sure that if you choose vintage design, it will always look good in your home. You wouldn’t have to change your house’s appearance just because vintage design is no longer in fashion.
· Quality
Even though vintage stuff is more expensive than other options, you can be sure it will last 50 to 60 years without any problems. Even after that, a little repair would ensure the old movables could still last for a long time. Also, old furniture can handle a lot more weight compared to modern equipment. This means that it can easily last for a long time.
· Elegant designs
Most of the designs are both elegant and roomy. So, when you use vintage furniture, you can be sure that you will be completely comfortable. You’d be able to make rooms that not only look elegant but are also pretty pleasing.
· Limited Edition Items
If you buy real vintage furniture, you can be sure that these will be pieces people want to keep. Because of this, their value would keep going up over time. Instead of spending money on furniture that will lose value over time, you could buy vintage pieces that can be easily resold for even more money at an antique-style furniture store.
How To Care For Antique Furniture
It’s nice to buy something new, but it’s much more satisfying to buy something old that we like and is still in almost perfect shape. Of course, “almost” can cause problems, so we will show you some easy ways to take care of your favorite things today.
· Labels
Labels and tags are essential parts of a vintage or antique item. They often help us figure out where the item came from, which increases its value.
· Stains
Somebody might spill the tea on your favorite armchair, or the vintage sofa of our dreams might have a small stain on the fabric. In these situations, don’t worry too much because there are a few solutions that will solve most problems.
· Rust
Metal was a popular building material in the 1930s and 1970s, and it is often the main part of our favorite chairs and lamps. It makes them last a long time, but it can also cause problems if exposed to dust and moisture for too long.
· Restorations
In general, we suggest hiring experienced restorers who know what they’re doing and buy their supplies from reputable places. Just like a patient of a certain age needs a “doctor” with a lot of passion and experience, so does an old piece of furniture or a piece of historical design.
· Electrical systems
When talking about old things, remember that they are often worth more when they have all their original parts. Still, we can bring things from the past into the present without taking away from what they were meant to do.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many ways to use different techniques to make furniture look old. Whether you want to sand, stain, paint, distress, wax, age, or gild your furniture, the most important thing is to try different methods and find the ones that work best for you. With some creativity and time, you can turn any furniture into a beautiful antique that will be loved for years.
