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    Home » Painted Furniture » How To Distress Already Painted Furniture

    How To Distress Already Painted Furniture

    This post may contain affiliate links

    Did you know you can distress already painted furniture? No reason you can't. Buy painted furniture and then distress to your happy look.

    Do you guys buy painted furniture or do you paint the furniture yourself. Or maybe you don’t even like painted furniture. That’s okay. Although if you're a regular visitor here I’m pretty sure you have a thing for paint.

    silver furniture hardware

    Sometimes you run across a piece of furniture at the thrift store or junk shop and it’s already painted. You might like it but it’s not quite your style.

    How To Distress Already Painted Furniture

    A simple change like new knobs, distressing, or maybe stenciling, will give the furniture a whole new look.

    thirft store painted furniture

    Buy Painted Furniture

    I bought this dresser at my favorite junk shop for $30. I knew immediately that I would work with the pretty silvery blue paint and not repaint the dresser. I even had a plan.

    furniture fixer uppers with 6 diy furniture bloggers 600

    This project is featured for Furniture Fixer Upper day and my wonderfully talented painting buddies have projects today too. The links are at the bottom of this post.

    drawer repair

    As with a lot of used furniture projects there were a few repairs that needed to be done to the dresser. The JTS (aka Junktion Technical Specialist, aka hubby) takes care of repairs for me. He's a good guy.

    scratch cover for dinged furniture

    There were a few minor dings on the stained top and I used the Minwax touch up marker to take care of those. A 2 minute job tops.

    distressing the paint

    Since the paint was scratched and rubbed in a few places I sanded the piece all over with a power sander.

    applying dark wax to make raw wood look aged

    Then I used Howard’s Wax in Golden Oak to make the raw wood look aged. You can see on the left side of the photo how the wax darkens the distressed areas. It’s a subtle change but one that makes a big difference.

    I made a short, short video when I was distressing a white chest of drawers. It explains everything. See it here.....

    How To Distress Furniture

    furniture knobs from Habitat Restore

    The dresser had 4 gold tone knobs on the top drawers that needed changing out. The silver tone furniture knobs I found in my stash were perfect. I have a ton of these knobs. I bought them at Habitat Restore a long time ago. They were 25 cent each. I replaced the knobs on our bathroom vanity with these also. They look much better than the standard knobs.

    Buy Painted Furniture And Make It Your Own

    The original paint is a very soft silvery blue. The color is lovely and the stained top is the perfect contrast.

    distress paint on furniture

    The distressing isn’t overly done. Just right.

    painted dresser with stained top

    The original knobs on the bottom drawers were spray painted silver and are in great shape. No need to change those out. Sooooo, sometimes you don’t need to paint furniture, just work with what is there.

    how to distress already painted furniture

     

    This is the third or fourth project where I’ve made changes to the original paint and came up with a whole new look. A couple of the projects are below. Just click the pink text links to see the new looks.

    sad white chest

    You would not believe this chest is the same one when you see the after photos here…..Red White Blue Chest of Drawers.

    blue dresser before

    See how this blue dresser came to life with the addition of red knobs.

    Time to see what my fellow furniture painters have for us today. Just click the pink text links below the “before” photo collage.before collage furniture fixer uppers October

    Girl In The Garage
    Just The Woods
    Prodigal Pieces
    Petticoat Junktion (you are here)

    You guys have a great weekend and I’ll see you next week!

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    More Tutorials For You:

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    Reader Interactions

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    1. linda kaplan

      October 30, 2017 at 9:36 am

      as usual, awesome

      Reply
      • Kathy Owen

        October 30, 2017 at 8:48 pm

        Thanks Linda.

        Reply
    2. ROSE LEFEBVRE

      October 28, 2017 at 6:14 am

      I love those knobs you had bought. I prefer silver over gold. You always have a wonderful vision of what something can be with just some work. Thar is why you are so talented!

      Reply
    3. Jen @ Girl in the Garage

      October 26, 2017 at 9:51 pm

      I'm glad you were able to save this piece. The top is beautiful and the front looks so much better with the distressed and waxed edges. (And your photos are soo pretty, Kathy! Now I want some pink flowers too.)

      Reply
    4. Ivory

      October 26, 2017 at 3:54 pm

      Nice pieces, loving them all

      Reply
    5. [email protected] Confessions of a Serial Do-it-Yourselfer

      October 26, 2017 at 12:03 pm

      I absolutely love this piece now! The distressing made such a huge difference and what a steal on those pretty knobs. I usually avoid already-painted furniture, but maybe I need to be a little more open-minded from now on! XOXO

      Reply
    6. Marie

      October 26, 2017 at 10:00 am

      Those Minwax markers are the best! Huh, you have me rethinking previously painted furniture. My first impulse is to slap on fresh paint but after seeing this I think I'll step back first and assess. The new knobs paired with the painted originals dress this piece up beautifully.

      Reply
    7. kandice

      October 26, 2017 at 8:07 am

      nice save! I usually avoid painted pieces, but you may have swayed me a little 🙂 Love those new knobs- theyre perfect

      Reply
    8. Larissa ~ Prodigal Pieces

      October 26, 2017 at 5:11 am

      What a save, Kathy! I love the new knobs and your touches make it perfect.

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Kathy!

    The gal behind Petticoat Junktion and I love decorating my home. My decor is eclectic and unique. I find fun things at thrift stores, junk shops, and flea markets and make them better. Every day is a new adventure.....

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