• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Start at Home Decor
  • New? Start here
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Building
    • Before and After
    • Decorating
    • DIY
    • Furniture
    • Holiday Decorating & Crafts
    • Tutorials
    • About Me
  • Custom Built Home
  • Remodeled Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Newsletter
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • New? Start here
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Building
    • Before and After
    • Decorating
    • DIY
    • Furniture
    • Holiday Decorating & Crafts
    • Tutorials
    • About Me
  • Custom Built Home
  • Remodeled Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Newsletter
×
Home

3 Easy Steps to Create a Rustic Weathered Wood Look

Feb 8, 2024 · Modified: Dec 4, 2024 by Brooke Larsen · This post may contain affiliate links · 10 Comments

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

A simple technique to create a weathered and aged wood look out of new wood. Try it for your next DIY project.

Weathered wood has a knack for creating beautiful rustic charm. When using weathered wood as part of your home decor it adds great texture and warmth to a space. But who has years to wait for this type of wood to age? Create weathered wood in a few simple steps that only takes hours rather than years!

Weathered wood frame

Different Ways to Weather Wood

There are so many different applications to apply aging and distressing techniques to new boards. You can use different pantry products to swap that new wood look for one that is rustic and vintage.

  • Vinegar solution - how to make wood look old with apple cider vinegar and steel wool for a warm brown finish
  • Black tea - weather wood with a tea mixture for a brownish-gray finish
  • Coffee mixture - make your wood look rustic with a combination of coffee and the vinegar and steel wool mixture
  • Walnut stain and paint - how to achieve a weathered appearance that looks old and gray with a mixture of milk paint and wood stain
  • Venetian plaster and aging stain - use these to create a weathered white wood that looks like aging white paint

A New Technique for Weathering Wood

While I love these methods, I wanted to find something that would speed up the weathering process. Luckily, a recent product I tried gives a weathered wood look in hours instead of days.

Vintage Wood, Better with Age by Amy Howard Home is a simple solution to speed up the process. The best part is that it is so easy. As a matter of fact, the process is just simply opening the lid and brushing it on. Another thing that makes this product a good choice is it smells wonderful and is non-toxic.

vintage-wood-tutorial

How to Make Wood Look Weathered Using Vintage Wood Solution

Learn these simple techniques to make weathered wood with a few easy steps.

Supplies You Will Need:

  • Pallet wood-rough sawn
  • Vintage Wood, Better With Age
  • Chip brush
  • Fine-grit sandpaper
  • Liming wax
  • Wax brush

1. Lightly Sand Wood

Once you have all your materials, the first step is to sand down the entire piece of rough-sawn wood just slightly. Use a high grit sandpaper to do this. But don't sand too much because the texture of the surface of the wood needs to be left intact. The texture helps to create a distressed wood effect and will help adhere the products.

vintage-wood-tutorial

2. Apply Weathered Wood Finish

Once the wood is slightly sanded down, use the Better with Age product. Simply apply with a thick coat onto your wood grain with a dry brush.

As you are applying this you will notice it goes on clear and looks like there isn't enough product on the wood. Give it time and it will slowly begin to be a darker color and give your wood the aged appearance as it dries. Let your wood surface dry all the way before adding a second coat.

Staining wood

Allow enough time for the wood to dry before moving on. As this product dries the wood will have a darker look. You can see the different results in dry time and coloring with each wood piece below.

The dark wood on the right was the first piece I did, followed by the middle and then the far left. I finished the light colored wood just before I took the picture. Once your wood has dried all the way it is time for the next step.

vintage-wood-tutorial

3. Apply Liming Wax

The last step is to apply your liming wax. This will help to finalize the appearance of the aging process. Using your wax brush, press it into your wax in a circular motion until you have covered the bottom of the bristles.

distressing weathered wood

After your bristles are covered, begin to press it into the wood so the wax gets stuck in the texture that has been left on the wood.

distress wood with wax

Continue to add the liming wax to your wood directly over the top of the Vintage Wood product. Distressing with wax is a super useful tool that helps with the weathered effect. Not only are you creating an awesome finish, but you are sealing the wood at the same time.

vintage-wood-tutorial

Finish applying your wax and allow your wood to dry. It doesn't have to be perfect and some spots may be lighter or darker on your wood. This is part of the process and exactly what the desired result is for appearance. Naturally weathered wood does not weather evenly.

And there you have simple steps on how to create weathered wood in hours!

How to Use Weathered Wood in Your Decor

There are so many ways to incorporate weathered wood into a DIY wood project. Some ideas are picture frames, table tops, bed frames, a coffee table and so much more. This aging process is so easy and fun you may find yourself coming up with another woodworking project to do after this one is done.

One such weathered wood project is creating a farmhouse style chicken wire wooden frame. Now that you have wood pieces that are weathered, you can make a beautiful wooden frame decor piece.

Weathered wood frame with chicken wire

How to Make a Chicken Wire Frame with Weathered Wood

For anyone who loves the barn wood look, this simple chicken wire frame is the perfect addition for farmhouse decor. Easy to assemble and your wood is already prepped!

Supplies You'll Need

  • Weathered wood pieces
  • Saw
  • Chicken wire
  • Wood glue
  • Upholstery staples or narrow staples
  • Upholstery staple gun or normal staple gun
  • Corrugated nail fasteners to hold 45 degree angles together
  • Hammer

Cut Your Wood Pieces for Frame

The first thing to do is measure and cut your wood pieces to the size of frame you prefer. Remember to cut your ends at 45 degree angles so they will connect together nicely when you build your frame.

Assemble Your Frame

Use wood glue for extra support when you put your frame together. Then use a hammer and nail in your corrugated nails to secure your 45 degree angles together.

Add Chicken Wire

When your frame is complete, flip it over to the back side and add a piece of chicken wire. I used my upholstery staple gun to secure the wire, but a normal staple gun would probably do fine for this job.

You will want to start on one end and staple that side to the back of the frame first. Then pull it taut and staple the rest of the border. Make sure you are pulling tightly so it lays flat.

Weathered wood frame

Finishing Touch

Hang this chicken wire frame on your wall with picture frame wire on the back. You can also prop it up against a wall if you don't want to hang it. This beautiful farmhouse style frame is gorgeous with its weathered wood and compliments our farmhouse decor.

Benefits of Making Wood Look Weathered

The color of the wood on this frame looks so natural and authentic.  The frame provides the charming rustic look that only weathered wood can do. And the best part is it only took a couple hours to achieve this weathered look.

Using the finish product in addition to liming wax is a great way to get an aged look on any DIY project in a very short amount of time.

Chicken wire rustic frame

If you have a scrap piece of wood that needs some distressing and weathering but don't want to wait years for the natural process of aging, be sure to try this process out. You will love the results.

Looking for more farmhouse style furniture ? This farmhouse kitchen table is so beautiful and will go perfectly in your dining room. And I love my DIY farmhouse pallet top table that adds so much character to my entry way.

Happy Decorating!

Brooke

« Refreshing Ideas for Easy Spring Porch Decorating
Practical Tips to Know About Wood Floors in a Kitchen »
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

About Brooke Larsen

Hello Friends! I love anything DIY and home decorator! On my blog I hope you will find home inspo. Whether it is for your next DIY project or home decor. If I can do it, anyone can!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sharon in Oakland says

    January 16, 2017 at 4:30 pm

    Thanks for the info with great pics. I love the comparison pic of each stage of the wood drying! That helps! I want to do the exact same thing but with an beachy turquoise color to it. Do I just paint a thin layer first and do all other steps after that? Thanks!

    Reply
    • startadmin says

      February 10, 2017 at 9:39 pm

      I would do the weathered wood first then paint a thin layer of paint and lightly sand some of the paint off.

      Reply
  2. Debbie says

    February 27, 2017 at 1:35 am

    I love the state of your hands. My hands look just like that about 80% of the time. It just means I'm in the middle of a project or two and loving it. Nice to know I'm not the only one.

    Reply
  3. Erica says

    July 08, 2017 at 8:39 pm

    What is the size of the frame? Also, who made the two garlands?

    Reply
  4. Amy says

    July 09, 2017 at 6:07 pm

    Can you show us how you made the frame as well? Not just how you aged the wood? I wanna make a frame like this for a mirror and would love to know how you did it! 🙂

    Reply
  5. Caitlin says

    February 13, 2018 at 5:09 pm

    where are the wall sconces from??

    Reply
  6. Ali Osbourne says

    March 06, 2018 at 1:31 am

    If I want to update my bedroom furniture with this look, can I use these steps to do so? It’s a big job, but I’ve been wanting to do this for years! Can I buy these products in a larger quantity, or do you suggest something else? Also, will I have to sand off the polish of what is on the furniture now?

    Reply
  7. Ashley says

    September 18, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    Out of the 3 examples of shades I like the one in the middle... can i get it to that shade or will it continue to darken to the 3rd example?

    Reply
  8. Deb says

    December 10, 2018 at 2:41 am

    If you were going to paint on words to the wood, would you apply the wax after?

    Reply
    • startadmin says

      January 18, 2019 at 12:03 am

      yes apply the wax after

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hi I am Brooke I am an avid DIY-er and home decorator! I share home inspo and all of my DIY projects with step-by-step directions. I sprinkle in a few recipes to help out all of us busy moms too. If I can do it, so can you!

More about me →

Popular

  • living room pouf
    10 Creative Pouf Ideas to Style in Your Home
  • 14th birthday party
    Perfect Summer Birthday Party Ideas for Your 14-Year-Old’s Birthday Bash
  • clean rugs
    How to Deep Clean Your Rugs Like a Pro
  • front yard planters
    12 Beautiful Porch Planter Ideas to Elevate Your Curb Appeal
  • New? Start here
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Custom Built Home
  • Remodeled Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Newsletter

Copyright © 2025 Start at Home Decor on the Seasoned Pro Theme

  • 24
2018 shares