Easy Distressing Furniture Technique For A Natural Look!

Learn how to give furniture a natural worn and distressed look without using any sandpaper! This easy and quick method for distressing furniture works every time! 

Check out all 7 of our distressed furniture techniques here! Enjoy learning about our natural furniture distressing technique, it's one of the most popular questions that we get asked!

I love a good furniture makeover. It's one of my favorite things. Today, I'm kicking off the first of the year with this classy rustic black painted nightstand makeover that was painted and distressed without using ANY sandpaper!


This natural furniture distressing technique is one of my FAVORITE go-to methods to give a piece a naturally aged and worn look! This technique doesn't leave a messy sandpaper residue, it doesn't require wax or vaseline or wire brushes.


It's an easy and quick distressing technique that leaves furniture looking naturally distressed each and every time!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to products I love and use every day. You can view our full disclosure here.

Here's what I had to work with.. a well-built nightstand with an orangy-brown stained finish. It had a few dings from normal wear and tear but that's okay! In a minute, I'm going to show you how I embraced those natural worn areas and used them to my advantage. ;)

The top of the nightstand was worse off.  It looks delicious, right!? ;) Okay enough gross pictures, let's talk distressing...

"The secret to getting a naturally distressed piece of furniture depends on the amount of paint you put on your brush and the pressure in which you apply it." -Thirty Eighth Street

Natural Furniture Distressing Tutorial

Furniture Distressing Supplies:

(Some of the links below are affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click here for full disclosure.)

- Black Paint 
-Paint Brush (my favorites can be found here!)
-Rag or cut up old T-shirt
-Plastic cup with water

Natural Furniture Distressing Technique

The secret to getting a naturally distressed piece of furniture depends on the amount of paint you put on your brush and the pressure to which you apply it. Wait what?! Yes, you read that right.


With this technique, the majority of the distressing process actually takes shape while you're painting the furniture. This technique of distressing has four easy steps and goes rather quickly! Are you ready? Here we go!...

Step 1: Apply A Light Layer Of Paint To Your Clean Piece 

This is a good rule of thumb for painting furniture period. Several light coats of paint will always adhere and look better than one heavy one! But, it's especially important when we're talking about how to naturally distress a piece of furniture.


You want your piece of furniture to receive some light and uneven coverage for the first coat. What do I mean by uneven coverage? I mean that you shouldn't try and cover every inch of your piece with paint.


Leave some of the natural wood tones peeking through AS WELL AS leave some of the areas of your piece completely untouched by any paint.  Edges, corners, raised areas, insets that have details, and imperfections are some really great examples of where "not to paint".



While you're waiting for this first coat to dry meander over and take a quick peek at this Turquoise Painted Bed that I painted so you can see another example of how this natural distressing technique has been used.

Step 1 Photo Example: In this first coat, the black paint was applied very lightly. There are some bare spots where the wood finish is exposed as well as large areas where the paint was applied lightly so that traces of the wood finish show through.


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Step 2: Apply Another Light Layer Of Paint To "Focused Areas"

On the second coat, dip your brush so that 1/3 of the paint brush is saturated with paint. Then, scrape the sides of your brush against the edge of the paint can so that your brush isn't dripping with paint. 

Your brush should have more paint on it then in Step 1 but, it shouldn't be so full that it makes a mess once it leaves the can. 

Here's where we talk about paintbrush pressure. This next part is really important! After you've dipped your brush into the paint, your paintbrush will be heavy with paint. 

Therefore, wherever you place your paintbrush on your piece is where you'll get the most saturated coverage.


Taking that into account, we can use that to our advantage and be a little bit strategic in our placement. 

For this step, select 3 random areas within a 2' section of your piece where you want heavier coverage. (There should be space in-between your designated 3 focused areas.)


Using medium pressure, give a paintbrush stroke to each of those 3 areas. With each stroke, the bulk of your paint will begin to leave your brush. 

After you've finished making your third stroke, go back to the first area and with medium/light pressure give 1-2 brush strokes and smooth out the paint. 

Do the same for the second brush stroke and then the third without re-dipping your brush back into the paint.



As you're smoothing out these three concentrated stroke areas as more and more paint leaves your paint brush. Perfecto! 

Don't re-dip just yet. That gives you the perfect chance to focus on the surrounding areas where your wood is peaking through. 


Using light pressure, give light dry-brush strokes to the neighboring areas within your 2' square. 

You want to strike a balance between full coverage, bare wood finish and peek-a-boo areas where the original wood barely shows through.


Select another 2' section and repeat Step 2 until you've covered your entire piece with your "second layer". Wait until the paint is dry before moving on to Step 3.

Step 2 Photo Example: In this in-progress photo, the following three arrows represent my first three brush strokes. You'll notice that the nightstand is shaded darker in those three areas. Once these areas were blended, I moved to the neighboring areas inside of these arrows and dry brushed over these peek-a-boo areas using whatever paint was left on my paintbrush. When you compare this photo to the photo above you can see how I slowly added additional color while still allowing the wood grain to peek through.

Step 3: Wet Distressing

Because most of the natural fade distressing is taking place in steps 1 & 2, this step goes lightning fast! 

Take a section of your rag and dip it into your water and squeeze out any excess. You want your rag to be damp/wet, not dripping wet. 


Run the damp cloth along the edges and raised surfaces where your piece would naturally get more wear and/or where there are already imperfections... mine as well make use of those, right!?. ;) 


The damp rag will remove the paint easily. If you remove too much paint, that's okay! It's an easy fix in step 4. 

Additional examples of wet distressing can be found on our french provincial dresser or on this painted mirror.

Step 3 Photo Example: Here, the arrows represent some of the raised edges/levels where furniture would tend to get scuffed or bumped. These areas were wet distressed.

Step 4: Blending

You've layered the paint so that the undertones are peaking through. 

Check! 

You've completed the wet distressing process.. 

Check. Check! 

Now, it's time to pull it altogether! This last step requires you to stand back and identify the areas of your piece that could use further blending. The goal in this step is to fade the existing wood finish just a little bit more. 


You'll accomplish this with just a smidge of paint on your brush. Dip your paintbrush so that the first 1/4" of your bristles has paint on it. 

Scrape the brush against the side of your paint can to remove any excess. You'll use light pressure and long brush strokes to blend and get a nice feathery texture. 

Step 4 Photo Example: Everything inside of the circle has been blended. The lower part of the nightstand has yet to be blended. You'll notice that by using this distressing technique everything in the top right-hand corner looks naturally worn and weathered without having used an ounce of sandpaper!




Here's a side by side comparison of the layering process...

We're calling this The Linnie Project. Here are a few close ups of it all finished....

You of course, get to control the amount of wear and distressing that your furniture piece will get! This natural distressing technique works for both minimal and maximum degrees of distressing.


Nightstand makeovers are the perfect sized furniture projects for first time DIY-ers. If you've never painted a piece of furniture before, painting a nightstand is a great place to try your hand at this painting and distressing technique!



If you liked this article, I would appreciate it if you'd pin it on Pinterest or share it on Facebook.

Would you like to learn more tips & tricks for refinishing furniture? Stop by to see these additional furniture refinishing tutorials. 

Love the weathered look? You'll find several other distressed furniture painting techniques here! 

MORE PAINTED FURNITURE

We gave this dresser an entirely new look by adding texture to our furniture paint! Click here to see our latest chalk paint furniture before and after!

Click the links below and see what my furniture friends have done with these furniture pieces!

1. Refreshed Desk Using CeCe Caldwell Paint from On Fern Avenue
2. Mid-century Dresser In Walnut and White from 58 Water Street
3. Vintage White Furniture Co. Nightstands by That Sweet Tea Life 
4. Rescued Relic To Elegant Eggplant Buffet from Whimsy and Wood
5. Using Stain To Tone Wood  from J Burns Design
6. Weathered Gray Painted Jewelry Chest by Just The Woods


Have any questions about this painting and distressing furniture technique? Leave me a comment below!

Happy painting and distressing!
Carrie || Thirty Eighth Street