Can I Distress My Kitchen Cabinets to Make Them Look Vintage?

What Is Distressing?

• Distressing is a faux finishing technique that mimics the natural wear and tear you would find in older pieces of furniture and cabinetry. The finish shows all the dents, scrapes, scratches, insect holes and paint damage that would normally be found on these old pieces. This finish is used to give décor an old-fashioned but chic look that fits in with casual, country decorating styles and the “shabby chic” look that uses old items that are re-purposed for more modern usages.

Distressing Techniques

• Distressing of wood cabinets is done in a number of different ways to stimulate the knocks and dents that occur during everyday living. One of the most basic techniques is to remove top layers of paint to reveal a different underlying color. This technique requires that you choose your paint combination and paint the piece in advance, then gently remove the top layer of paint from strategic spots with sandpaper or a metal file. You then “distress” the cabinets further by hitting with chains or a hammer, drilling tiny wormholes in the surface, or spattering paint to make “fly specks.” The trick is to keep the marks and dents random, as would naturally happen, avoiding any sort of regular pattern. These techniques simulate the same type of damage you would find on very old cabinets that have seen years of everyday use.

Other Tools For Distressing Wood

• Your creativity can be your guide in finding new tools to use for creating distress marks on kitchen cabinets. For instance, you can use a padlock swinging on a string or piece of rope to strike the cabinets to create interesting marks. Alternatively, use a chisel and lightly hammer into the surface of the wood, using either the flat surface of the tip or the pointed corners of the edges. This creates a deep dent in the wood that looks like it could have easily happened when a door or other object slammed into the cabinet. Screwdrivers can also be used to create linear marks in the wood.

Protecting Your Distressed Finish

• Once you have sufficiently damaged and distressed the kitchen cabinet, you must then prevent dirt, grease and debris from settling into the dents and scratch marks with a protective coat of varnish, according to the Tuscan Home 101. (see reference 2) Clear acrylic and polyurethane coatings are also used to protect distressed wood surfaces. These types of clear coatings have the advantage of not cracking or yellowing with age.