What is distressed furniture?


Some of our collections receive a hand-finishing process called "distressing." It recreates the appearance of years of cherished use. This process, also known as a patination or hand finishing, recreates what happens to furniture naturally over time. Distressing techniques vary from collection to collection and depend on the style of the furniture. To ensure your piece lasts for many years, once the desired distressing effect is created, the piece is stained to enhance the appearance and sealed.

Some of the techniques used on our furniture are: 


Nicks
Reproducing what looks like years of dings and dents, this process is done by hand to make physical impressions in the wood.

Rub-through
Enhancing the grain pattern of underlying coats, this method uses sandpaper or steel wool to gently rub away some of the topcoat on edges, carvings and other areas.

Cow-tailing
This technique brings more depth to grain patterns by using a small brush with a very dark stain to put random short dark lines or curves on the surface.

Wormholes
Small holes are made to emulate these ravages of time by using a tool with thin rods tipped with a round metal ball.

Rasping
To create a worn effect, this technique employs a shaping tool that is run along the edges and corners