How to Paint Distressed White

Beat solid wood furniture with a hammer, chain or other hard objects to create dents and scratches. Do not use this method to distress walls or objects that are not solid wood.

Paint your furniture piece, wall or other object with a solid coat of latex paint that is not white. Use a brush for small or rough areas and a roller for large, flat areas. This color will show through parts of your distressed white paint, so choose a color that you would like to use as an accent. Reddish browns offer high contrast, while yellows will give you a more subtle look.

Streak small amounts of petroleum jelly onto the surface in areas where you want the base color to show through. For furniture, this should be inside the dings and dents, on corners and anywhere else that might receive a lot of wear over time. On walls, streak the jelly where chair backs might hit the wall or in other places where walls are likely to receive wear and damage.

Paint your object or surface white. Paint over the jelly with a paintbrush using long strokes, and then use a different brush or roller to fill in the rest of the surface. Do not roll over the areas coated with petroleum jelly, or the roller will pick up some of the substance and create a pattern over the rest of the wall.

Run a stiff-bristled brush, such as a wallpaper brush, over random areas of the white paint when it is partially dry to add scratches to the surface. Rub the brush lightly to add texture or heavily to scratch all the way down to the basecoat. On walls, place most of the scratches and scuffs in the lower areas, where objects are more likely to hit the wall. On furniture, brush any place that seems likely to get scratched through heavy use.

Wipe down your surface with a rough rag, such as terrycloth, after the paint is thoroughly dry. The paint over the petroleum jelly should rub off, leaving you with the basecoat showing through in those areas. Rub over the brush-scratched areas as well to remove any loose paint.

Spray a degreasing cleaner over the formerly jellied areas and clean any remaining jelly off thoroughly.

Sand down any paint drips or raised areas around the brush bristle strokes with sandpaper. This will change the texture of the paint as well as removing signs of fresh paint.

Mix a small amount of yellow acrylic paint with water until you have a mostly transparent wash that is a light muddy yellow.

Mix a small amount of dark brown paint with water for a darker muddy wash.

Dip a rag in the yellow wash and rub it over your white paint, particularly in any corners. On walls, rub the wash on near the ceiling and upper wall corners.

Blend out the edges of the yellow wash by rubbing with a wet rag until you can't tell where the yellow ends and the untinted white part begins.

Rub the brown wash into the lower corners and baseboards of walls, or along the feet and lower legs of furniture you are distressing, as well as on areas that would be frequently touched, such as cabinet door edges. Blend the brown wash out with a damp rag the same way you did with the yellow wash.

Add further distressing with more washes, steel wool or sandpaper until you have the look you want.