How to Distress Kitchen Chairs

Clean your chair of dust, cobwebs or other debris with a feather duster or lint-free cleaning cloth. This helps the paint adhere to the wood surface.

Cover the edges of any upholstery, caning or vinyl that are on the chair with masking or painter's tape. This prevents you from accidentally getting paint on the fabric or caning.

Paint the wood surfaces of each chair with your color choice for the base coat. For a basic wood-looking surface, use black or brown paint for the base coat and a lighter brown for the second color choice. Any two color choices are acceptable; just make sure the finished product coordinates well with your interior. For instance, for a retro look, you can use a base coat of pink or red and a second color of white or off-white. The finished faux technique cracks the second color choice and reveals the color of the base coat. Another idea is to use yellow as your base coat and a baby blue color for the secondary coat of paint.

Allow all the chairs to dry before continuing with the faux finish process.

Spread a layer of glue onto one of the chairs with a clean paintbrush. It is important that you do not allow the glue to dry; therefore, work on one chair at a time for this step. A thick layer of glue will result in wide cracks in the second color choice. A thin layer of glue will result in fine lines with a crackle appearance.

Apply the second color choice directly onto the sticky glue surface with a clean paintbrush. Allow it to dry fully while you go on to the other chairs. You can watch the second color start to crack during the drying process. Continue working on one chair at a time until they are all done. Allow them to dry completely.

Use a clean paintbrush to apply another layer of glue to the distressed surface of the wood. This seals the crackle-look finish and protects the wood surface. Allow the chairs to dry thoroughly before using them.