How To Distress Painted Furniture Using Clorox Wipes

Did you know you can use Clorox Wipes to distress paint? It works. I tried the process on the buffet I’m sharing today. I’ve used baby wipes, Simple Green, and plain old water to wet distress painted furniture. I love that there is no mess but sometimes it takes a bit of elbow grease to remove the paint, depending on how long the paint has cured.

Today is Furniture Fixer Upper Day and you know what that means. My talented friends have projects today too. On that note I would like to say a few words about my fellow tour mates. I’m amazed every month when I take a look at their projects.

Jen  wrote a popular furniture painting book a couple of years ago….Amazing Furniture Makeovers…..and her furniture projects are amazing. Denise is always using bold colors sometimes adding Woodubend Trim and Dixie Belle Transfers. And Christy has a passion for white, gray, and light blue paint along with Redesign by Prima Graphic Transfers….and decoupaged drawers!

I on the other hand haven’t used any of those transfers or wood appliques or written a book. I need to get out of my comfort zone, except for the book thing because I hate to write! Anyway, enough of my rambling. I just wanted to praise my friends a little bit. On to the project.

This is the buffet I bought at a local online auction a couple of weeks ago. The price was $75 plus 10% buyer's premium. It is a nice solid wood piece and those are hard to come by these days.

I cleaned it up, removed all of the drawer pulls and used FrogTape in areas I didn't want to be painted. I covered the holes where the drawer pulls were on the cabinet doors but later decided to paint the inside of the doors.

I always try to cover the screw holes on the inside of the drawers so paint doesn't leak through. The drawers are a mess on this piece and I plan to cover them with paper or something. Once that is done I will add photos to this post or write another post showing the process.

I like the color of the paint I used on the whitewashed side table last week so I took a sample of the color on a paint stick to Home Depot. I had the custom color mixed in BEHR ULTRA® SCUFF DEFENSE™ INTERIOR EXTRA DURABLE FLAT   paint.

custom mix paint color Behr Ultra Scuff Defense for Petticoat Junktion

The paint is described as “Flat Paint That’s Too Tough To Scuff”. I'm not sure about the scuffing but I can tell you it's tough. I found out the hard way when distressing the paint. Some of you have asked for the color so I added the photo above with the custom mix color formula from Home Depot. The color is an off-white that tends to a grayish brown tint. I know....that's the best I can describe it. Be aware that colors look different on different computers and devices.

The drawer above has one coat of paint on the drawer front. The paint covers very well and this was a light colored paint over dark wood. I applied a second coat for good solid coverage.

Now comes the fun part....distressing the paint. I thought I would try the Clorox Wipes to distress the paint this time. I've used baby wipes in the past and they work great. The areas I distressed with the Clorox Wipes were the raised areas on the drawers and the raised areas on the front of the buffet body.

The process is a simple as rubbing the wipe along the areas you want to distress. I ran the wipe along the raised detail on the drawer a couple of times just wetting the paint. This softens the paint and makes it easier to remove. If the paint has been cured for a while it is a bit tough to remove.

It took me a couple of days to paint the buffet. I painted different parts of the buffet each day. The paint that had been cured for a couple of days took some scrubbing to remove with the wipes. The paint on the parts of the buffet that had been painted less than a day was much easier to remove.....or distress. Tip: When using the wipes if they are more than wet, meaning soaked in liquid that might be in the bottom of the container, wring them out before using so the liquid doesn't drip on areas you don't want distressed.

Next up the drawer pulls. This piece had all the original pulls which is awesome. I had this Rust-Oleum Spray Paint Driftwood color and I thought the color would be the perfect contrast to the furniture paint color.

The Driftwood color is really pretty and would be okay with the light color paint but not with the original stained furniture finish. The furniture finish is too brownish and the Driftwood has a lot of gray to it.

Moving on to spray paint I have in my stash. I tried two different metallic paint colors, one light and one dark. No go for either.

I headed out to get more spray paint which I don't like to do. I try to use paint I have on hand. I came home with two colors and decided on the Expresso Rust-Oleum Spray Paint color. It is pretty and shiny but after putting one pull on the drawer.....it was a no go again.

Moving on to plan 3 or is it 4? I painted the drawer pulls the same color as the buffet then distressed the paint using the Clorox wipes. A winner finally.

As I've mentioned numerous times in the past sometimes you have to change plans and that's okay. Don't be afraid to give something a try. It's only paint and can be painted over.....and over.

This project was fun and I love how it turned out. I may have forgot to tell you the number one reason to wet distress paint instead of sanding with a sander. The reason is that the original stained finish is saved instead of being rudely sanded away. Sanding with sandpaper usually uncovers the raw wood.

Even though it was a lot of extra work I'm glad I kept working on the drawer pull colors until I was happy with the look. What do you think? Do you like the color of the pulls?

Leave a quick note of you have time before heading off on the tour. I read all of your comments and take your opinions and suggestions to heart. To take the tour just click the text links below the "before" makeovers photo collage....

Furniture Fixer Upper Tour

Painted Desk With Flower Child Transfer - Confessions of a Serial DIY'er
Cactus Painted Side Tables - Salvaged Inspirations
Chalk Painted Soothing Blue Cabinet - Girl In The Garage
Coastal Style Furniture Makeover - Petticoat Junktion (you are here)

As always, thanks for being here, Kathy