Antique furniture

Making Furniture Look Antique

Antiquing is a common practice where people make newer pieces of furniture seem old, like antiques. One of the easiest ways to make furniture look antique is with paint. Below are directions how to make painted furniture look old.

Materials:

• Satin or eggshell finish paint
• Brown or tan eggshell finish paint
• Glaze painting liquid
• Paintbrush
• One of the following: rag, cheesecloth, fine steel wool, piece of carpet

Here's what you do:

1. Sand off the paint and finish on the wood surfaces of the piece of furniture you're working on [source: Bach]. Start with the semi-rough grain sandpaper to get everything off, then finish with a fine grain to smooth the surfaces for painting. You can skip this step if you have an unfinished piece of furniture, or you can use some paint remover to help speed up the process.
2. Paint the entire wooden surface with a base coat of paint [source: Bach]. Use a nylon-polyester paintbrush to start making the wood appear aged. Let the paint dry [source: Martha Stewart].
3. Brush a thick layer of glaze over the base paint coat. Wipe the glaze off right away with either a rag, fine steel wool or piece of carpet. If you're working on a big piece of furniture work in sections. Using fine steel wool will give an appearance of wood grain, while carpet will make the glaze the most blotchy and uneven [source: Bach].