Unfinished to Distressed

In most cases “unfinished to distressed” would be a bad thing, but in this case it’s not so bad, in fact it’s good.

Recently while traveling in upstate New York, I bought an old Underwood typewriter. I have always wanted one, and there wasn’t any resistance from my other half, so I bought it. When I got home, the place I was going to display it just wasn’t cool enough for my prized relic, so I decided to do a little distressing on a pine cabinet that until now had only been stained.

So I began the process. The first thing was to take the hardware off and remove the doors.

Next I sanded everything down just a bit, then began to put on some color. It’s best to work from light to dark, but obviously I didn’t take my own suggestion.

Continue adding color here and there making sure not to cover all the raw wood.

It’s coming along…doesn’t look too wonderful now, but it’s getting there.

After the paint had fully dried, I sanded everything down. When you do this step, make sure to sand down far enough to let the grain show through.

Now it’s time to stain. I like to use a dark stain, I think it makes for a dramatic finish. Make sure to use gloves when you work with stains…they aren’t called “stain” for nothing!!

Reassemble, putting doors and new pulls on and Ta Da!!! The end result. Now I realize this isn’t for everyone, but it suits me fine. Different looks can be achieved with multiple layers of paint, even with layering words.