Petticoat JUNKtion
With this quick technique, you can make white furniture look distressed naturally for a shabby chic look or that oh-so-popular worn look.
HOW TO MAKE WHITE FURNITURE LOOK DISTRESSED AND NATURALLY WORN
SELECT THE RIGHT FURNITURE
When you distress wood that's been painted you usually distress along the edges of drawers and the casing of the furniture, so select a piece of furniture with a lot of raised details.
PREP THE FURNITURE FOR PAINTING
Painting furniture doesn't take long it's the prep work that takes the biggest amount of time. The first thing to do before painting is remove the drawers and the furniture pulls or knobs.
PRIME THE WOOD CHEST
My favorite primer is Glidden Gripper and I always have it tinted Gray because gray works well under any paint color. I do not like using white primer under red or black or any other color.
After priming I painted the chest with white latex paint I had on hand. The first coat of paint covered really well but I always apply two coats just in case I missed a spot somewhere.
HOW TO DISTRESS PAINT WITH SANDPAPER
I used 100-grit sandpaper to sand the layer of white paint by hand. It takes a little longer to distress the paint by hand but I have more control than with an electric sander.