How to make antique wood with your own hands?

Kitchen sets with antique design

The main element of an antique kitchen interior is furniture. The production of kitchen sets now amazes with its diversity. But if you want solid wood furniture with all the attributes of natural aging, then you are unlikely to find it in your nearest store. Antique kitchen sets are made to order.

The main element of an antique kitchen interior is furniture.

Every self-respecting manufacturing company will provide you with several options to choose from, but the price of such a product will not be cheap. Most often, manufacturers offer furniture made of oak, but a more budget-friendly material is pine. Nowadays, a white antique kitchen is in great demand, which looks very organic in a modern interior. Thanks to the white color, your set will look very elegant even in a small room.

Nowadays, a white antique kitchen is in great demand, which looks very organic in a modern interior.

A separate topic is the countertop. It is made from solid wood or stone. Stone countertops are more durable and require little maintenance. A wooden tabletop can be matched to the facades of the set; with proper care, it can last quite a long time. The cheapest option is postforming material, which looks like natural wood and is very durable.

A wooden tabletop can be matched to the facades of the set; with proper care, it can last quite a long time.

The dining table and chairs should be chosen from wood; in retro style, forged elements in furniture are acceptable. The ideal option is if it is a set with a kitchen set.

The dining table and chairs should be chosen from wood; in retro style, forged elements in furniture are acceptable.

If you still have an old grandma's set in your house, don't rush to throw it away. You just need to restore it a little, and it will look great in retro style and delight you for many years.

If you still have an old grandma's set in your house, don't rush to throw it away

Do-it-yourself processing of antique wood products

The recent fashion for vintage products, cars and retro-style clothing has not bypassed the design of wooden products. Antique-looking wood processing also allows new buildings to create an interior that looks as if the owners inherited the apartment from their great-grandfathers. The owners of country houses decorate the facades and interior spaces with old wood. Decorative false beams on the ceiling, stairs, doors and other design elements are made from artificially aged wood, giving the house a resemblance to a medieval castle or a fairy-tale forest hut.

Before performing work, it is recommended to practice using samplers.

The high cost of artificially aged wooden objects makes home craftsmen want to make the necessary things with their own hands, achieving both a reduction in the cost of the product and its true uniqueness. Carrying out the work of aging wood is not at all as difficult as it may seem from the outside. You just need to know about the basic ways to achieve a beautiful textured surface on ordinary lumber, which can be purchased at any company that sells building materials and wood.

Main features of an old-style room

This style involves the use of only natural materials.

The ceiling is decorated with wooden beams. But if you have a small room, beams visually narrow the space, it is better to make a small imitation.
The floor is made of natural parquet, planks or stone. It is permissible to lay linoleum with an imitation of natural material.
Walls with a rough texture of light-colored decorative plaster. Kitchen apron made of stone or ceramic tiles to match the furniture.

The main thing is to harmoniously combine household appliances with an antique kitchen set and obligatory accessories in the old style. Manufacturers now offer household appliances stylized as wood; they will suit this style well.

The main thing is to harmoniously combine household appliances with an antique kitchen set and obligatory accessories in the old style.

You shouldn’t clutter your kitchen with everything you find at a flea market; a few things from years gone by will be enough to create an image of style and a cozy atmosphere.

Don’t forget about the presence of textiles in the kitchen - these are colorful curtains on the windows with floral and natural motifs, and bright rugs under your feet.

External use of aged wood

This decorative material is perfect for decorating rustic-style facades. First of all, this is the German half-timbered style: the original decoration of the walls involves the use of wooden beams of rough texture, giving the building a characteristic appearance.

Country-style finishing also allows for the use of aged wood: the cladding itself, shutters, entrance doors, as well as decorative elements.

Railings, steps, support pillars at the porch - all this can also be made using the described wood processing methods. After practicing on small pieces, you will be able to handle any surface without much effort. Of course, large-volume elements, such as house trim, are not so easy to process manually, but there are special machines on sale for this purpose. The most important thing is to have the desire, and then everything will definitely work out.

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Kitchen decoration in retro style

This style is very diverse. You need to decide on the time period that you want to implement. A retro-style kitchen is characterized by restraint in form, practicality in furnishings and multifunctionality of things. Natural colors in the decoration can be combined with bright accents and metallic chrome parts in the interior.

A retro-style kitchen is characterized by restraint in form, practicality in furnishings and multifunctionality of things.

Basic design rules.

The combination of natural materials is wood and metal, ceramics and glass.
The bright color of the kitchen set will attract all the attention. Let’s assume a white kitchen set in this style, but then you need to add bright colors to the decoration.
Regular geometric shapes in furniture and streamlined shapes of household appliances with large handles. Now manufacturers produce a lot of household appliances in the spirit of that time.
When choosing a kitchen color scheme, you need to take into account the time period. The early period is characterized by monochrome colors with a play of tones. Later periods involve bright contrasts, floral motifs and natural patterns.

The decoration of the room in this style is very original.

The walls are painted in a single color or covered with wallpaper with geometric shapes - checks, stripes or diamonds.
This style welcomes a combination of many contrasting colors in the decoration. You can choose three or four contrasting colors and combine them in the room.
The flooring in this style is a combination of red, white and black checkered colors on ceramic tiles. The use of stripes and other geometric shapes is acceptable. If you are not inclined to bright contrasts, then the floor can be made monochromatic.
The ceiling should be simple. Plain plaster and matte white paint. You can add wooden beams, provided that the ceiling height allows it, otherwise they will create an oppressive atmosphere.

The main thing when implementing this style is properly selected lighting. A mandatory attribute is a simple round lampshade above the dining table and, in addition, a sconce and a floor lamp with a fabric lampshade.

The main thing when implementing this style is properly selected lighting.

Mechanical aging of wood

Drying, painting, and brushing are recommended to be done outdoors.

The most readily available materials for purchase are made from coniferous wood: pine, spruce, larch. They have a pronounced structure and pattern formed by fibers of different hardness. This makes them suitable for mechanical decoration.

Using tools that destroy the top layers of wood, you can achieve the effect of aging much faster than if it happened naturally. All abrasions, potholes and cracks can be imitated using 2 methods:

Using a sharp corner of an ax, make holes of varying depths and widths in a chaotic manner on the surface of a board, beam or log. Bend the corners of the block a little with an axe, without worrying about neatness or a smooth surface. After this, all surfaces treated in this way must be thoroughly sanded with a stiff brush with steel bristles. When sanding a large product, it is better to use a drill or grinder with a special attachment. It is necessary to grind until all the sharp edges that appeared when chopping with an ax acquire the outlines of natural damage smoothed over time. It is important to remember that the movements of the brush should always be directed along the fibers. The next step will be sanding to remove protruding fibers and processing with a steel brush with softer bristles than the first time. This removes some of the soft fibers, creating shallow depressions between the ridges of the harder winter wood fibers. The same brush can additionally highlight knots and cracks.
After sanding the light surface of the new product, you need to make it look like old wood that has darkened over time: paint it with stain or dark acrylic paint. After drying, using medium-grain sandpaper, without strong pressure, lightly rub the wood, removing paint from protruding ridges and hills. At the same time, the dark color remains in the potholes and between the fibers. For final finishing, the product is coated with acrylic transparent or light yellow varnish and dried until completely dry.

A more “humane” way. Suitable for small products and furniture, wooden dishes and other small surfaces. Brushing is done manually using a brush with metal bristles. In this case, as in the previous case, the soft fibers are removed, leaving ridges of hard wood. Use a hair brush to sweep away wood dust, monitoring the process by eye and achieving the desired degree of surface wear. After this, the product is painted and decorated as indicated above.

Sink and faucet in retro style

Plumbing products in this style are made of brass, copper and bronze with ceramic handles and valves. Manufacturers give their products the effect of metal oxidation to match the spirit of the times. The shapes are very varied, you can choose faucets stylized as an old telephone, tulip or bamboo.

Plumbing products in this style are made of brass, copper and bronze with ceramic handles and valves.

The faucets look like they are from the last century, but have all the functions of the latest plumbing fixtures. But in combination with a regular metal sink, such a faucet will look ridiculous. Therefore, it is better to buy sanitary ware complete with a sink made of natural stone or porcelain, then you will completely achieve the style in your kitchen.

The faucets look like they are from the last century, but have all the functions of the latest plumbing fixtures.

Carrying out vintage styles indoors is not an easy task. But knowing the basics of design and a sense of proportion in the use of accessories, you can easily cope with this task. And your kitchen will be original and unique.

How to age wood

Things from the distant past are quite popular these days. This did not bypass the design sphere either. The design of the house, which contains notes from the past in the form of old wooden furniture, floor beams, and various antique wooden decorative elements, gives it a chic and expensive look. You might even think that the owners inherited from their great-grandfathers a luxurious house that was centuries old.

In fact, everything is much simpler. The fact is that with the fashion for everything old came the concept of imitation of the old. The same thing happened with wood, because in any construction or furniture store you can find decorative elements made to match the old style. Of course, the prices for such items are quite high, so rarely anyone can afford them.

But masters of working with wood know the secrets of such transformation of wood. After familiarizing yourself with them, you can acquire antique-looking furniture and other items without much effort and with significant savings.

Antique wood processing is done using 3 common methods, namely:

brushing;
burning;
alkali.

At home, great preference is given to option 1.

The first step is to select the wood that we will process. If you want to artificially age boards or timber to further create various objects and furniture from them, then you can choose materials with various defects (chips, small cracks, potholes, knots). After proper processing, such defects will only improve the result. If you choose ready-made furniture for aging, then you need to use pieces that look like they were made by hand in past centuries. Before processing, the furniture must be completely disassembled so that it is possible to reach hard-to-reach places.

You also need to prepare the necessary materials, such as:

hard metal brush;
softer wire brush;
paint brushes;
acrylic paint, varnish, wax or stain;
sandpaper.

It doesn’t hurt to practice a little on unnecessary, small pieces of wood before working with the prepared material.

Some operations can be harmful to health (when fired or using chemicals), so it is better to carry them out in the fresh air and in compliance with safety rules.