How to Make New Wood Look Old, Weathered and Rustic
How to Make New Wood Look Old, Weathered and Rustic
I have a confession to make. All the wood that you saw on my art studio wall is not exactly old or salvaged. Will you forgive me if I share with you the Secret to Make New Wood Look Old, Weathered and Rustic?Â
In order to have enough wood, I had to buy some new pine boards off the shelf at Lowe’s. I actually chose furring strip boards because they are already chewed up and imperfect.
But, I also grabbed a few other supplies:
- General Finishes VanDyke Glaze
- General Finishes Pitch Black Glaze
- Minwax Early American Stain
- Rustoleum Sunbleached Stain
- Rubber Gloves
- Rag
- Wide flat brush
Optional: General Finishes Flat Out Flat Top Coat to protect furniture.
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The Secret of Weathered Boards:Â
Old rustic boards are gray and have enhanced grain and plenty of dings and character. Replicating that look can be tricky unless you have the right tools, glazes, and a few tricks up your sleeve.
I wrote another post about aging and antiquing that shares some other techniques, but today I’ll focus solely on making new lumber look old.
Weathered boards have a warm gray color. To create this color I stained the boards with Rustoleum sunbleached. Then wiped off the excess.
Next I added a little Minwax Early American and wiped it off.
The results are the blue-gray weathered look. For more dimension and detail try adding the glazing technique described below.
My Secret Rustic Glaze Formula:
UPDATE: Valspar stopped making the products I originally used. I’ve tried a lot of alternatives, and settled on General Finishes Van Dyke and Pitch Black glazes to get the same look. The good news is that you don’t need the additional clear mixing glaze.
There is nothing in this world more beautiful to me than rustic barn wood. Those dark chocolate timbers that look like they’ve been gathering dirt for decades are gorgeous in my eyes.
To fake this look I created a glaze that works wonders when wiped over new lumber.
Mix 2 parts Van Dyke glaze and 1 part Pitch Black glaze.
Mix thoroughly. The resulting color should be a very dark chocolate color. Adjust your color by adding more VanDyke or more Pitch Black.
Dip your flat brush into the glaze and drag it over the wood. The glaze really accentuates the grain in the wood.
Shake or tap the brush on a stick to give your lumber age freckles.
For more uniform color, brush the glaze over the entire board (don’t forget the ends of the wood.)
Rub the glaze into the wood and wipe off any excess.
Take a look at the difference:
Not bad, did you know this farm crate sign is brand spankin’ new?
I hope I fooled you. Here’s the tutorial for making the farm crate sign.
In the meantime, have fun aging those new boards! I’d love to hear if you try these techniques and how they worked for you.
Hello
I am wondering if I could use Valspar antiquing glaze lightly OVER my painted EXTERIOR shutters? Most glazing projects I see are for indoor projects. I love the look of the waxes used over chalk paint but I don’t think I can use any waxes on exterior wood. My shutters are painted a french blue using oil based paint and I want to add a little patina to them.
I think it would work fine! If you wanted to be double safe, you could put a coat of polyurethane over it.
Could you be so kind as to give me your suggested recipe for a Grey weathered finish (not blue!) with a touch of brown undertones? And which wood would be best? Thanks so much!
You’d probably have to experiment. Maybe try staining the wood and creating a gray glaze for on top of the stained wood.
Hi there!
I love the look of your glazed wood and decided to head to lowes and get all the stuff to try to make a “wainscoting” for my bathroom. I used a different wood than you and it definitely turned out darker than yours. It doesn’t have any grey to it and it looks just like the mocha brown color. What do you suggest I do to get less brown and more grey? Thank you!
Kelli,
Did you use the Rustoleum sunbleached stain first? If so, then you might try to make your own glaze using some gray acrylic paint and dry brush that on top.
There is also wallpaper & anaglypta wallcovering that resembles wood. Burlap, canvas, or feedsacks are other ideas. Thin unfinished veneer also comes in sheets, but that would be more expensive.
I LOVE repurposing items, especially boxes. I get a regular shipment of acai juice and the shipping containers are an EXCELLENT size for bathroom waste cans, storage bins, etc. At first I was covering them with decorative contact paper, then I began decoupaging them with magazine pages (another item I hate to toss—beautiful pictures, why waste them??). Any other ideas for giving these boxes a make-over and new use??
Elizabeth, are they wood or cardboard?
They are cardboard. If I knew how to post a picture I would show you.. ?
What if you used wood texture scrapbook paper to make them look like rustic wood crates?!
I think this is the best method I’ve seen online for making wood look antique! However, I’m a little worried with my teeny tiny budget that the three glazes are going to add up to be a lot. I tried looking up the cost but couldn’t find anything. I was wondering if perhaps you remember approximately how much they cost?
Hello I tried your technique, here is what I did:
I applied the sunbleached first (about three coats) and then let it dry. Afterwards I applied the early american. I did not obtain the blue-grey results in the picture. What would you recommend I do to achieve those results.
Isaac, it probably depends on your wood you are using. I used pine. I also only stained it one coat. You might try mixing a latex paint in the color you like with water to create a wash instead of using a stain.
I wanted to ask a silly question. When you mix your glazes you say part. Does that mean a cup or do you just pour it in there and mix it up until you find the mocha looking color?
Kayla, I do kind of eyeball the mixture when mixing it. But, you can experiment. I’m not sure the exact mixture, but you wouldn’t want to use cups or you’d have a LOT of glaze. But, here’s an example: Mix 4 parts clear mixing glaze with 2 part mocha glaze and 1 part antiquing asphaltum glaze. (try 1 cup clear glaze, 1/2 cup mocha glaze, and 1/4 cup asphaltum) But, even still that’s a lot of the mixture, so try halving that recipe if you only need a little. Good luck.
Thank you so much for this tip! My husband and I used this recipe to turn a new treasure box–to look old! It looks awesome!
Thank you again!
Your wall is AMAZING – nicely done!! Thanks for posting your “how-to” on the wood (you would never know it was new wood on there!), I’ve got this linked to my weathered wood post too today!
Hi there! For the glaze… did you do the glaze on top of the first 2 stains? (rustoleum bleached and minwax american) OR are the pictures you show above of the glaze on new bare wood.
let me know. thanks!
Gina, I did both. Some were just the glaze on new wood (the browner woods.) And some were the glaze on top of the stains. Just play until you like the results ;-).