Primitive Painted Furniture Techniques

Causing Distress

• The nicks, scratches and dents of time and history can be created through distressing. Distressing happens early in the primitive-painting process by damaging the furniture before painting—furniture is beaten with chains, and nails are hammered against furniture at odd angles to make dents or dragged across surfaces to create scratches. Bang hammers on a surface to create larger dents than nail heads can make. Before taking a hammer to your furniture, however, create a sample board(s) of distressing styles and techniques. Use wide, flat pieces of scrap board and test the results of using different weights and sizes of chains, nails and hammers. Note what was used on the back of each sample for easy replication later.

Aging With Glazes

• You can use several techniques to create an aged appearance. Glazing is the addition of a watered-down contrasting color that is rubbed over a base coat and then wiped away when slightly damp. The remaining glaze gives the piece a dirty, aged look. Glaze coats are usually brown tones, and base coats use a more colorful palette. Primitive colors are usually muted versions of modern colors such as grayed blues, ocher, mustard, deep reds, olive greens, creamy whites and a wide variety of off-whites.

Aging With Sanding

• Sanding removes paint along edges, around hardware and across surfaces where normal use occurs. Although you can use an electrical sander, hand sanding will give you more control over the process. Experiment with both and try using dramatic paint combinations such as a red base coat and a black wash, or an off-white and a dark brown.

Washes And Crackles

• Flip the glaze process to create an antiqued primitive finish. Paint a base coat of matte black, dark green or a black/brown. Apply a layer of color in a single coat on top of the base coat. Try red, tan, mustard or hunter green, grayed blues and off-white colors as the top coat. Experiment using sample scrap boards to find the perfect primitive paint effect. Colors sometimes may require a second coat for a bolder color. With this technique, the base coat is viewed through the top coat, creating a dark and worn look. Leave the top coat as a solid or try sanding it for a more worn look. You also could use a crackle finish product over the darker base coat. Crackle finish products are available at paint and home stores.