Home » Crafts » How To Make Unfinished Wood Look Like Weathered Barnwood

How To Make Unfinished Wood Look Like Weathered Barnwood

ByKathy Owen Updated on

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

How To Create The Look of Aged Barnwood

Aged barnwood is oh so pretty. I’m going to show you how to take unfinished wood and give it an aged barnwood finish in two easy steps! I also have a video of the barnwood process for you!

DIY weathered barnwood flower caddy

Aged Barnwood Flower Caddy

The area in Tennessee where we live is beautiful. There are a lot of farms around and I enjoy going on long Sunday drives just to look at the barns…yes, that’s what I said. I love old barns. There are a lot of tobacco barns in the area and the wood is all aged and weathered…and perfect. I created the look of authentic rustic barnwood on my new wood caddy.

FolkArt Painted Finishes Barnwood Effect and Barnwood Wax Project by Petticoat Junktion

FolkArt Painted Finishes Barnwood Tint & Wax

The process to turn the unfinished wood into rustic weathered barnwood was simple and the results were amazing.To create authentic looking barnwood I used FolkArt Painted Finishes Barnwood Tint and Barnwood Wax. The tint and wax allows the true characteristics of the unfinished wood to show through.

unfinished wood tote Pettiocat Junktion project

I started with this unfinished wood caddy/tote. Buy the caddy here….Unfinished Wood Tote (affiliate link)

How To Make Unfinished Wood Look Like Weathered Barnwood Petticoat Junktion project

Make Unfinished Wood Look Like Weathered Barnwood

The wood caddy really looks like it’s made from rustic weathered barnwood. You can see the weathered fence panel in the background and how similar the wood caddy is to the wood of the fence.

barnwood stain

The first step in the process is applying the Barnwood Tint. The FolkArt Shortie Brush with it’s stiff bristles is perfect for applying the tint smoothly and evenly.

barnwood stain. faux finishjpg

This is how the wood looked after applying the Barnwood Tint. The tint takes about four hours to dry.

weathered wood finish project Petticoat Junktion

The next step is applying the Barnwood Wax. I used a soft lint free rag and poured a small amount of wax onto the rag. I rubbed the wax on going with the grain of the wood.

tutorial make unfinished wood look like weathered barnwood Petticoat Junktion

Immediately after applying the wax I took a hard plastic card (credit card or something similar) and using firm pressure scraped it across the caddy going with the grain of the wood. This removes the top layer of wax leaving a small amount of wax that resembles actual Barnwood Tint. A scrap piece of wood also works great for this step.

FolkArt Painted Finishes Barnwood Weathered Effect Petticoat Junktion 1

Rustic Barnwood Finish

 

weathered rustic barnwood paint finish Petticoat Junktion

There are many uses for the multi purpose caddy. For the time being I decided it was the perfect container for my pretty impatiens. Who knows what I will use it for this Fall.

Watch the video of me using the barnwood finish technique on a wood caddy….

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”D1GG4EET” upload-date=”2016-08-30T21:21:13.000Z” name=”Petticoat Junktion – Weathered Barnwood Finish Tutorial” description=”weathered,barnwood,finish,tutorial,wax,tint,FolkArt”]

Barnwood Finish Tutorial

birdhouses

FolkArt Painted Finishes includes Barnwood, Concrete, Moss, and Rust. The Plaid Creators used all of the painted finishes products on our birdhouses we painted at Plaid Headquarters.

How To Make Unfinished Wood Look Like Rustic Barnwood Petticoat Junktion project

Aged Barnwood Finish

I think the JTS and I are going to be building a few small tables and I can’t wait to use the Barnwood Tint and Barnwood Wax again. I already ordered more tint and wax so I would have it on hand!

Supplies for this project:
FolkArt Barnwood Tint (no longer available)
FolkArt Barnwood Wax

As always, thanks for being here and have a great day, Kathy

Disclosure: I partnered with Plaid Crafts on this post. All words, ideas and photographs are 100% my own.

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedInShare on Flip it

Kathy founded the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion in 2011, where she shares tutorials on how to paint furniture and repurpose thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, The Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

12 Comments

  1. Amy Latta says:

    So pretty, Kathy! Barnwood is my favorite of the finishes!

  2. I really like this project, but the paint is supposed to be only for indoor use, so I wonder how it will hold up outside?

  3. I read that you can weather wood easily by rubbing it with steel wool previously soaked in vinegar. I haven’t tried that, but it would be nice to compare the two methods. Based on what i have seen on Pinterest and such, i think the results are excellent

  4. Love this look! My dad used old cypress boards for so many projects – his father had milled the wood when he was a child. I wish I had some today!

  5. Shirley Duis says:

    I love this. I will use it. Thanks!

  6. Kathy – I just love this project!

  7. I like this finish. It looks so easy.

  8. Kathy Owen says:

    Barbara, I would love to say we cut the box but n,o we got it from Home Depot. It is a kit with all the wood already cut and we put it together. A jigsaw is hard to use! We are going to attempt to build some furniture in the future, mainly tables.

  9. Kathy,
    How long have you been doing your own woodcutting/building and finishing wood? This box is just perfection. If you used a jigsaw to cut out the ends, they are so smooth and wonderful. Is the secret more in the cut or the sanding? I love the look of these wooden flower/tool boxes. I am just learning how to use a jigsaw and find it fairly hard to cut circles and curves!