THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DISTRESSING AND ANTIQUING.

I sometimes don’t think about people not really knowing the difference between distressed and antiqued. My first question I ask people when they want a custom piece painted is ” What color do you want?”.  My next question is “Do you want it distressed or distressed and antiqued?”. I start seeing their eyes glaze over as I ramble on about what it is or if I am on the phone with them its kind of silent followed by “I don’t know what that is”.

I started painting 2 years ago when we moved in our new house. I had a hutch that needed painting and being the DIY type of people they are, my husband and mother in law suggested we do it ourselves. My mother in law has been painting here and there when she had time (which is few and far between now with 6 grandchildren!) and she was asking me how I wanted it. I didn’t know a thing about antiquing with glaze or stain. Once we started painting I became an addict ! I googled, bought books and googled more. So if you are one of the ones that has no idea what the difference is, we have all been there!

Here is a great example of the difference. Both are painted with Behr Antique White. The left is just distressed and the right is distressed and antiqued. I used a stain to antique this but I use wax and glaze to antique as well. Distressed is where the wood is showing. Antiquing is the brownish tint over the white to make it look older and no so bright. Can you see the difference?

DIFFERENCE IN ANTIQUING AND DISTRESSING.

When I first ventured into painting, I only distressed. I was afraid of antiquing. One of my very good friends asked me to paint her armoire and wanted it antiqued. That would be my first stressful piece. I went by one of the finishes I saw in Altar’d Designs eBook “Most Wanted Finishes”. My friend liked the Restoration finish but I did something different for the glaze. Then I googled “how to glaze” and found All Things Thrifty’s videos for glazing. (Which by the way I got the chance to meet Brooke at Haven this year and let me tell you, she is just as awesome as her DIY projects and glazing video!) So with the help of Altar’d Designs and All Things Thrifty I did this for my friend.

The rest is history!