Distressed Paint Finishes with Sarah Jayne Signature Chalk Paint

Before progressing to distressing your painted piece make sure your overall finish is dry, including any over painted areas or blobs. Touch up any areas that require it. You may need a third coat depending on the darkness of the original item and the shade you are using.

You can at this stage add an additional step of dry brushing for a very distressed vintage look. Choose another shade different to your main shade and with a very dry, preferably old and less than perfect brush, pick up a tiny amount of paint and lightly brush it across some paper or a board so that the brush has a very small amount of powder dry paint on it. Apply this in very light strokes to your item. You may want to practice this technique beforehand.

Now you have your painted item ready for distressing it’s time to start rubbing some of the paint off! This can be a little difficult to get your head around so if you are doing a large or important piece we suggest preparing a small test item to hone your distressing skills first.

First, look at the item and think about if it was very old where it would have been handled or worn. Corners, handles, mouldings etc are all likely candidates, think about your item and where these areas would be.

Lightly sand these areas back and forth, start with a light touch and build up the pressure as you become familiar with the sandpaper and technique. Finer grade sandpaper or flexible sanding blocks are ideal for this.

If you make a mistake you can paint it out, let it dry and have another go.

When you are happy with the effect you can dust away the chalk dust with a suitable cloth, brush or hairdryer. Many people prefer to do distressing outside or in an area where the dust can easily be blown away.

Items that will have a lot of heavy traffic such as table tops, chair seats or drawer tops, will require a coat of Saraj Jayne One Coat Sealer. This is also water-based and provides extremely robust protection to protect that finished masterpiece. We advise only using Sarah Jayne One Coat Sealer only on the surface of the item (if needed) rather than the whole item.

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