Now that we have stopped moving around the country, and have settled into a house (finally) I’m really enjoying being able to do the things I want to do. I love working with wood and that is just something you don’t get to do a whole lot of while moving around. Today I’m going to share with you how to weather wood for when you want new wood to look old! (See how I use this technique on a Wood Shim Vase).
Update: I now have a tutorial on a Farmhouse Style Finish, you can check that out here!
Before we get started, you will need to know how to make my DIY Wood Stain. So go ahead and make that, because it needs to sit for at least 24 hours before you can use it! This will give you time to gather up all your other supplies and do any prep work! So let’s talk about all the other supplies you will need to weather wood!
Supplies:
Some supplies listed below are affiliate links. These links help this blog make a profit at no additional cost to you and help keep the free tutorials coming! Thanks for your support!
– DIY Wood Stain
– Minwax Dark Walnut Stain
– Lint free cloth or brush
– White Acrylic Paint (or any appropriate kind of white paint)
– Steel Wool (Grade 2 – Coarse)
– Gloves
– Protective Eye Wear (safety first!)
How to Weather Wood
Let’s talk about our wood real quick. For this tutorial I am using regular ole wood shims, so depending on the type of wood you will be working with, the overall look might vary. Different woods soak up things differently. I just want you to be aware of that before you get started, so you might want to test it somewhere if you have a specific look in mind, ok? Ok! So first you are going to stain your wood with the Minwax Dark Walnut using your lint free cloth (or brush) and let this dry. If you are finishing a piece of furniture you might want to give it a light sanding when you are done. I didn’t do this since I was just working with wood shims, but you should sand between coats if you are looking for a nice finish!
Once that has dried (and sanded if necessary) You are going to dry brush on a thin coat of white acrylic paint. If you aren’t familiar with dry brushing first put some paint on a paper plate and spread it out kinda thin, then take a dry brush (I like to use the cheap ones from Wal Mart for this) and just get a tiny bit of paint on the end of the bristles. Try and ignore my wintery dried out hands and focus on the paint ; )
Now you are going to just brush this along the wood, re dip in the paint as necessary, but don’t get carried away because you want your brush to remain dry, so get every bit of paint off you can before you get more on there. When you are done it should look like this.
Once your paint dries, you are going to sand and distress it with your Grade 2 Steel Wool. This is where you are going to want to wear your gloves and wear protective eye wear. Trust me on the gloves, steel wool will be sticking out of your fingers! No fun! Keep sanding until you are happy with the look!
Now clean off any dust residue on your wood, and you are going to apply a coat of the DIY Wood Stain that we just made with the same grade steel wool you used to make your stain! Let fully dry before you apply another coat, because the color does change quite a bit once dry. When you are happy with how it looks, give it a light sanding with a dry piece of the steel wool you applied the stain with. So here is a visual of how the process will look and how the wood changes.
And that’s How to Weather Wood
Now you can seal it with your favorite Polyacrylic and finish up any final steps you might have!
What project do you want to try this on?
If you make anything with this process, I would love to see how it turns out, you can check out my Rustic Wooden Clock Tutorial
Visit Cherished Bliss’s profile on Pinterest.
Great tutorial! I never would have thought to scrub the wet paint with steel wool!
Thanks Lisa! You actually want to make sure the paint is dry before you you sand it…. but doing it while it’s still wet could be a cool look too… I might have to go try that now ; ) Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Ashley! Love this! I have one question…in the picture where you show how you distressed it with a hammer, how did you get those uniform lines along the bottom of the board??? I love barnwood that has that look but have never been able to distress it that way myself. Thanks!
Really great tutorial. I will try to make it and then I will publish it on my blog with link to Your blog off course :) Hugs
Love this. I’ve been wanting to make some more back drops for photo shoots.
Thanks Theresa! I want to use it for that too.. I just need more time in the day, lol ; )
Great tutorial!! I love how it turned out. Thanks so much for sharing :)
Thanks Crystal! : )
This is great! I am going to try this out soon! I have been looking for a good way to age wood.
Thanks Morgan! let me know if you have any questions!
Holy Smokes! Who knew this was even an option (um, you did)?!
Thanks Patti! It is a little time consuming, but so worth it! : )
I love this look! I am saving this idea! Thanks!
Thanks so much Heather! : )
Great tutorial!
Thank you so much Jen!
Would this work with my kitchen cabinets? And what do I seal it with.? Cause as you saI’d poly with turn yellow. ? Help! :) thank you
Sanding sealer…. Takes more time and labor but doesn’t yellow…. Apply a light coat and sand lightly… Wipe clean and repeat. My dad taught me this thirty years ago. We applied seven light coats and the finish lasted for years… If it dulls after fifteen to twenty years, all you do is lightly sand and apply a couple of coats the same way you did originally.
There’s no “LIKE” button for these q&a’s. LIKE LIKE LIKE!!!!
I’m always looking for stuff to throw myself into.
Great tutorial Ashley – so glad I found it over at the Fabulously Creative Friday Party!
Thank you so much Marie! : )
Thank you so much for the great tutorial. It really looks like weathered wood. Pinned it for later :)
Thanks Stephanie! : ) I was so happy with how it turned out. Usually it’s never as good as it looked in my head ; )
This is such a great idea! Pinning it for later because I really want to try it out sometime! :)
Thanks Allison! I haven’t tried it on anything big yet, but I’m dying too! Let me know if you do it, I would love to see : )
Great tutorial!! I love how it turned out. Thanks so much for sharing :)
What a great idea! Saw you featured at the Time to Sparkle party. This will be so useful for food photography boards :) Pinning!!
Thank you! Yes, I’m very excited to create a photo background with it too!
This is fantastic! I love the look of old and distressed wood. Just pinned it. Thanks for linking up!
Thank you so much Amy! I’m so ready to give it a try on something bigger : ) Thanks for stopping by and pinning! xoxo Have a great night!
I have a paint stick chevron table top I’ve been waiting to finish because I wanted JUST the right look….I think I found it. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Oh how awesome! I would love to see how it turns out! : )
What a fabulous tutorial, girl!! :) I am thinking of all the projects I could create with this wonderful weathered wood!!
Thanks Jocelyn! My sister and I want to make some photo backdrops with it! The first thing she said was it would look good behind her food, lol!
This is such a great tutorial and so easy!! I would love if you shared at our Link it Or Lump It Link Party http://www.sohosonnet.com/link-it-or-lump-it/link-it-or-lump-it-link-party-27/
Thank you so much! I will be sure and stop by in just a bit. I am on my phone right now ; ) Have a great week!
I used your technique for a growth chart in our new house. I had never heard of the DIY stain but it turned out exactly how I had envisioned it . Thank you for this tutorial! I don’t know how to post the photos on here.
Can’t wait to try this on a project I am planning for my mud room! Going to weather a 5′ long pine board and affix oversized wrought iron coat hooks to it…our big family needs all the organization it can get! :) This stain effect will go perfect with our rustic theme. Thanks so much!
I wanted to thank you for this tutorial! I was contemplating a washed finish for my project and the thought of mixing water and paint to the right ratio was not pleasant. The dry brushing worked perfectly for the found-in-the-barn type of look I wanted :) I made this island furniture piece: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/190066046748582880/
Hello Ashley. I love how the wood looks . It is exactly what I want to do on some sliding doors I have in my bedroom . But they are alraedy painted white . Do I need to sand them down to bear wood to achieve the same look or can I some how get the same look with out all the sanding
To get it cloesest to this look, yes, you would need to sand them down. Mainly because you can’t stain over paint like that, so you would loose all possibility of getting that wood look. It also depends onw hat kind of doors they are. Are they standard closet type doors or are they real wood/lumber? Typical doors won’t have that wood grain to it, so that would play into the look of it quite a bit as well. If you happen to have a picture handy, I could take a look and see what might be your best option : ) my email address is ashley.cherishedbliss at gmail dot com : ) Thanks for stopping by!
I notice that you mention the DIY stain at the beginning but you don’t actually use it in the step by step. Did I miss something?
Hi Andrea! You use the DIY wood stain right after you sand and distress it with the steel wool. I talk about how I applied it right under the picture that shows the steel wool. Please let me know if you have any other questions! : ) Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you, I couldn’t see it for looking!! I have never used the DIY stain after, usually on the bare wood, great idea. Thanks !!
Hi Ashley, for some reason the link to the DIY wood stain does not open correctly. It says the page cannot be found. Can you post it again? I’d like to weather a picture frame this weekend!
When using the diy stain, do you use the steel wool you actually out in there or just the same grade but dried?
Nice …. I love it (:
Love this could you use chalk paint instead of acrylic?
This looks great! Have you tried it with any colors other than white?
I’d like to try it with a pale light blue to match our outdoor decor. Maybe white and the blue would work together?
Hi Cliff, I haven’t tried it with any other colors. I have been wanting to test out a red for a barn wood look, but haven’t had a chance. It can certainly be done, but since you are dry brushing it on, the color doesn’t appear as rich as it does in the can. So when I put a bright white on there, it looks aged and is slightly see through. You can always paint it on a little thicker and just really sand down the spots you want the stain to show through.
I am going to be trying all you’ve shown us, see which I like best. So glad you shared all these great techniques.
When I have steps to do on one project I just do one of those then work on something else for while. I set a timer so I don’t forget (or I will forget when I get so engrossed). Manage to get time consuming things done that way and other projects worked on. Don’t have small children so can keep working. Oh yeah there’s the hubs, almost as bad a small kid, thinks when he hollers I should drop what I’m doing and run to him, of course him coming to me would be out of the question. Not saying this nasty, just telling like it is. But I love him, 46 yrs end of this month. If he could find some thing to do away from house once in while that would be ok too. Sometimes 24/7 is bit much for me.
Enjoy the season. If I can remember how I’ll send you photo of how my boards turn out. Don’t hold your breath tho as I tend to be digitally challenged. Just got new computer yesterdawy and haven’t opened box yet, half afraid of how to get going with it. sigh.
Hi! I found this just now and I’m hoping that it’s not too late to get a reply :) I’m thinking of making my own small coffeetable with thks method. So the thing is, I want the wood to be really soft. Do I sand it to the softness I want before starting with this method, so before starting with the staining ? I’ d really appreciate the reply, thanks! :)
Hi Janina! Yes, you want the wood to be in the condition you want it before you apply any stain. If you are doing a coffee table, I would suggest applying several coats of polyacrylic to it as a sealer to keep it clean and give it a nice smooth finish, you will sand in between those coats, but if you are looking for a really smooth finish, you definitely want to get it there before any stain. I would also suggest starting with a rough grit sandpaper, and gradually moving up to the very fine, that will give you the best finish : ) Good luck!
Hi! Just stopping by to let you know that I featured your tutorial on my site! Check it out here:
http://www.diylookbook.com/get-weathered-wood/
Thank you SO much Lauren! Have a great weekend!
Hi Ashley, can you do this look with red paint instead of white? Do you know how to make a distressed red barn door? Im in the process o opening a cafe and want to install a red barn door on rollers. Im even thinking of calling it “Red Barn Door Kitchen”
Thanks, Chef Silvia
Hi Silvia, You can definitely do it with any color you want. You might just want to test it on a scrap piece of wood to make sure it turns out the way you like it. But the color has nothing to do with the process : ) Have a great weekend, and I’d love to see how it turns out!
Hi Ashley!
Thank you for the great tutorial! Today I built a small storage rack for my kitchen and tryed your method. It looks gorgeous and I love it. First I used dark brown stain, tourquoise colour (chalk paint), white colour (chalk paint) and finished with wax (clear and dark wax).
Tomorrow I will build a second rack for the other side of my kitchen and then you can see it on my blog :-)
Thanks so much for sharing with me! It looks gorgeous with the color! I’ve only ever done it with white, so I think I might have to try it with some color now! Have a great weekend!
Hi!
I love this tutorial. I am distressing an old door with windows I turned into just a window. One question – for the DIY stain, do I scrub the wood with the soaked steel wool or just dab it over the wood??
Thanks!
Briana
Hi Briana, I’m not sure I entirely understand which part of the process you are referring too… but I didn’t ever use the steel wool to that I used in making the stain to apply it with. I used a fresh piece of steel wool to apply it to the wood and gently rubbed it across the top. Steel wool isn’t necessary to apply it with, I just already had it out and on hand. You can just use a foam brush if you would rather do that. The steel wool does get a little messy… and make sure you wear gloves because it will certainly poke you! Good luck and have fun!! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Is the minwax stain you used oil or gel based?
Hi Bre, the one I used is oil based. I’ve never personally used the gel, but I would think you could still use it for this process. You might just want to test it out on a scrap piece of wood before committing to it ; )
What type of Polyacrylic do you use to finish with? I love this tutorial! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! : ) I use Minwax’s Poly acrylic. It’s by far my favorite!
What happens if I do not use the DIY wood stain? Can I use a lighter minwax type?
if the piece I’m doing this on is a cherry coffee table, do I sand it down and apply the stain anyway or do I consider this my stain And move on to the white paint?
Hi Kasey, since it is already finished it probably has a poly finish on it that is somewhat glossy. You can paint over this with the chalk paint and use it as your “stain” but it might change the outcome. What I would suggest if you are going for an older look is to just kind of rough of the stain on the coffee table a little bit and then continue on with the process : ) Good luck! Would love to know how it turns out!
This might be a really stupid question but I what kind of would do you use? I’ve been looking for a project to bond with my daughter and thought this would be great. I am crafty but know nothing at all about wood, where to get it and size. Thanks for your help!
I do know how to spell wood darn auto correct????
Thank you for posting this! I finally got a chance to try it out in one of my pallet projects! See the link in the website field to see the final product!
Thanks for sharing this! I pinned this about a year ago and finally got the chance to try it out on a pallet project! You can see a picture of the final product in the link above.
Can you explain the diy wood stain a little further? What does the steel wool do? Does it completely break down or no? 1 T of coffee doesn’t seem like much. Do you know what would happen if you added more?
Hi Holly, I’m not entirely sure of the chemical process behind it, but the vinegar does break down the steel wool… if you leave it in there long enough it will completely dissolve. The coffee really is just to give it a little bit more of a brown color, it’s really just a personal preference. You could certainly try adding more or less to achieve different looks, but I’d just make sure and test it on a scrap piece of wood before making a full commitment ; ) Hope that helps!
I let my diy stain sit for 48 hrs. I only used one coat over the dark walnut stain and white dry brush strokes. After a short period of time I could see it turning the paint a light pale pink color. Not happy with this outcome at all. The picture of the example does not appear pink and it doesn’t say anywhere in the tutorial that it gives it a pink hue. I wish I could go back in time to just after the dry brushing and leave it there. Not sure what I’m going to do now.
Hi Holly! I am so sorry it didn’t turn out like you wanted. I’ve never seen a pink hue before. Did you use coffee in your DIY stain? That is the only thing I can think that would do that, perhaps it was that particular kind? I’ve done this several times and while the results do vary some with the DIY stain, I’ve never had a pink hue before. If you wouldn’t mind letting me know what type of coffee you used, and which color paint you dry brushed with maybe I can figure out what’s going on so you don’t run into this problem in the future! Thanks! : )
Hi! Thanks for the post! I am making shelves for an antique rusted stand that will go in my kitchen. I have just finished distressing my shelves after the white wash and they appear must more grey than brown. I actually like the look, but curious where I may have went wrong. I used the same stain and for my white paint for dry brushing I used chalk paint. I did distress before the chalk paint, because I felt they were really dark brown. Thoughts?
Hi Denise, Thanks so much for stopping by! I’m not sure why it would have come out more gray. Do you have a picture you could send me so I can see what it looks like overall? You can email me directly at ashley.cherishedbliss [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks!
Hi Ashley!
Thank you so much for your response. I just emailed you the photos. I am struggling getting the coffee stain to change the color much at all, and I let it set for 48 hours. Hmmm…
Thank you again!
Denise
Thanks! On your blog is to what to learn…
Would this technique work on hardwood floors that already have a stain/finish?
You would have to sand them down in order to do that, and honestly I can’t say I would suggest trying this on hardwood floors. That is a huge undertaking and the results do vary. If your like me though and willing to try anything, I’d definitely test it out on a piece of the flooring. The biggest concern I would have is with floors you typically want to poly over the top for protection, but with the white paint involved, poly actually yellows white paint over time.
Great tutorial! Would this work with my kitchen cabinets? ..I don’t see why not. ..love it
Hi Ashley, I did a huge prefect using some of your steps with weathered look. Is there a way to send you pictures? I wold love to share them wit you!
Thanks,
Lisa
She actually leaves her email in a few posts above yours…here it is “You can email me directly at ashley.cherishedbliss [at] gmail [dot] com.” I am currently in the process of this DIY and plan to send her some pics too!
Good Morning Ashley,
I love this weaathered wood look!! I’m considering doing this on the floors in our new house currently under construction. How do you think it will hold up on floors? I know i’d have to seal with a matte polyurethane for protection. It’s about 2700 sq ft downstairs, so I’m probably a little locco even thinking about doing this!! Any advice would be appreciated!! Thank you, Elizabeth Warford
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for stopping by. I’m honestly not sure how this would hold up on a floor situation. I created this process for furniture, and I have no real experience with it in that type of setting. My biggest hesitation would be that you really should use a polyurethane on a floor surface for protection, and since this process uses paint, it could yellow the color of your paint, especially with any exposure to the sun. So my gut is telling me I wouldn’t test this out on 2700 square feet, because I’ve never tried it. Sorry I’m not much help, lol!
Thank you, Ashley! Actually, you were helpful! My back thanks you! I would have probably tried this and paid dearly! I want to use some type of distressed finish on our floors-at least on the upstairs (less sq. footage up there). I just saw your technique and thought “Oooh that looks good!!” Thanks again! Will follow you to get your awesome ideas! Elizabeth
Lovely work! I’ve already got a China cabinet with a brown base stain ( the wood is pecan). Can I skip the first step? This cabinet doesn’t even have a poly coat on it but I’d at least give it a light sanding. Than you for your advice!
I want to use this weathered wood to transfer a photo onto. Do you know how this would change the types of paint, stain etc that I would need to get?
Thanks
Beth
Love this technique!! I am going to have to try this on my current project for sure!!
I have done this without the coffee (great addition to get a different color). The vinegar smell stays longer than I would like it to. Any ideas on how to limit the time of the smell? I do like vinegar but not in my house projects!!! Thank you for sharing how to do this.
Hi Linda, the vinegar smell usually goes away for me when I seal it. You could also just try leaving it outside (weather permitting) to let it air out. : )
This is my very first time doing a project like this!! I want to do my kitchen table!! I really don’t know where to start??!!! From what I’ve read, sand, DIY stain, paint, stain? I know it seems so easy, but so scared I’m going to mess up, lol!
Awesome tutorial — my question is — how much time and trouble is it going to be to do ship lap for an entire room with this process? I believe that I should do the same process on all the boards before starting another process. I would like to have a more white distressed look, so should I leave off the DYI stain. I just don’t want a solid white look.
I hope that it is not too late to receive an answer on this post.
Hi Leanne, Honestly if you are doing a whole bedroom full of shiplap I would stain everything, then dry brush some paint on and after it’s dry sand it down, and that’s it. I’d personally skip a few of those steps, no need for the DIY wood stain. I also recommend testing it out first to make sure it’s the look you are going for. It all depends how much you paint on there ; ) Good lucky!!
Love the tutorial. You use the minwax stain first then at the end after dry brushing go over with the DIY stain…can i not use the DIY stain through the whole process?
Hi Angie, You certainly can, the DIY stain doesn’t have that rich dark brown color like the minwax stain so your color will vary. I always suggest using a piece of scrap wood to see if you will obtain the color you are hoping for ;)
Thanks…worked great on a fun sign I made, Cant figure out how to post a pic so you will just have to take my word for it…it rocks
Well I tried this on a cedar wall in the house I was building. Some miscommunication happened and the framers put the rough side out. -_- I already had most the supplies and my mind was set! So I tried it out. I didn’t use all dark walnut, I had so many stain samples so I just did a bunch of different colors and picked random boards (more rustic right?). All said and done it turned out okay. I ended up using grade 3 steel wool for the rough side sanding. I think I put too much coffee in my first DIY stain so I made a batch without coffee for the second coat. It didn’t go as “grey” as I was hoping but it still turned out pretty good!! Thanks for the idea!
It didn’t work unfortunately. My wood that I tried to distress looks nothing like the one in the photo. It turned out 100% gray. Not sure what went wrong.
Tried again for the second time and yet again it did not work. The product turn out 100% gray. No going to use this information any more. Very frustrating.
Getting ready to finish a Farmhouse Table using this method. If I don’t want to make my own stain in the latter steps, would you suggest using a lighter/brighter minwax stain or…?
Hi Ashley,
I love this look. I am ripping up the stinky carpet in my farmhouse and laying plywood boards to look like floorboards. Going to do your finish with just a hint of green as well and a slight grey instead of the white. Need to disguise the dirt etc from our 5 dogs and orphaned farm animals.
Hello! Do I have to use the DIY stain or can I use more of the dark walnut for the last step? Thank you!
I’m late to the party, but this is mind blowing. You are a genius, and I’m pretty sure I just fell in love with you.
Excellent tutorial! I just finished my project and it looks amazing. Thank you!
This is a very informative and inspiring site … Love it!
Thanks so much for this, Ashley! ????
Just did this on pallets & I love the results! A bit time consuming, but so worth it!
I have one question… how long can you store the leftover DIY stain?
I just wanted to make sure you’re okay, because you haven’t answered since 2017.
Great post , thanks.
OMG! This is so much easy tutorial. So much surprised with the final result:)