Inform Me: Refinishing Furniture - distressed/rustic/whatever

Has anyone here done this?  It looks pretty simple.

The reason I ask is I have a room I'm trying to furnish.  I don't want to buy new stuff.  I have some old stuff that is decent/solid that I would like to use, but I'd like it to match (kinda).  When doing this, is it fairly easy to get the end products to have a similar finish even if the colors or stains you are starting with are fairly different?

I have one wobbly bookshelf that is a dark/deep brown stain.  It will be repaired with some wood scraps (unfinished).

I have an old nightstand that has a lighter stain with some more red in it.  

I would like to make a cube cubby shelf thing out of plywood and finish it in the same manner.

My wife does this (if we're talking about the same thing). It's seems pretty simple. Paint the stuff whatever color you want, then sand through the paint in a few places so the original color shows through. I think the trick is to sand places that would normally get wear, like corners, a little more and not too much on the flat surfaces. Just a little here and there. When people do too much on the flats it doesn't look right.

I haven't done a lot of this stuff.  Well, that's a lie.  I am a theater technical director, so I'm constantly taking old worthless crap and making it look good, but when I refinish a coffee table or a bed for stage, I know that people will only see it from 20 feet away.

I did apply my skills to an antique 4-poster bed, though, and I'm really happy.  I took the path of least effort and it worked great.  It was an early 1900s cherry spindle bed set that had been beaten up pretty badly.  None of the nicks were huge, but the finish was toast.  All of the tops of the finials looked like someone had hung their damp shower towel on them for a hundred years.  So I started by gently sanding all of those until I got to wood.  I matched up a stain and hit them with a few coats until they matched.  Same thing with the dings and scratches.

Then I went over the whole thing with a 3M maroon scotch-brite pad to scuff things up.  Then I used the Tech Director's greatest friend, Wipe-on Poly.  I poured some onto an old gym sock and wiped down the whole thing with three coats.  It truly looks like it came off the floor of Ashley's yesterday.

I’ve done this. Use chalk paint. There’s no prep or primer just paint in on let dry and put on chalk paint wax. While the paint is still wet, you can make wear marks by removing small spots and it gives it a rustic look. Look online for how to. First try I did the wax wrong. Can’t put it on too heavy. Nice thing is if you screw up you start over by putting the chalk paint on again. This was originally two levels and i cut it down and reattached the top. The paint process hides any defects.

So to clarify... I'm not interested in creating wear marks.  This stuff is old and probably has enough of that.  I'm more interested in the lightly brushed finish over top of the original finish.  Hoping it can be done in a way that I can get the stuff to match.

Should I send down the original finish completely/partially/at all?

Should I go for a 2 color finish?  I've seen this recommended online.  Paint lightly with one color, lightly sand, then paint lightly with a contrasting color?  Seems like that may have the best chance of covering the original finish?

I did that kind of thing with an old hutch we used in the nursery.  What I did was paint the thing, sand it a little to get wear and then I used thinned out stain,a rag and wiped the stain on over the paint.  I don't have any pictures, that was 15 years ago, but I can get some if you are interested. 

I think it depends on how beat up the piece is.  On my bed, it was an old varnish with some nicks and bumps so I just matched the stain and scuffed it before poly

Chemical strippers can really be your friend here, especially if its an intricate carving or turned spindles.  Be cautious though.  If it has veneer, chemical strippers can loosen the glue

I know it's popular now, but I'm so ready for the white/gray wash and faux distress trend to end. 

SWMBO and I have quite a bit of antique furniture, mostly mission/Stickley style 1/4 sawn or tiger oak, and a few even more primitive pieces.  It breaks my heart to see beautiful old wood pieces painted.

If it's particle board or MDF with a veneer on it paint away, but if it's solid wood, celebrate that you've got a nice piece of furniture and leave it be, they don't all have to match.

I've got a 4 stack barrister with a fold out desk in it that was a mess when I got it, and a coffee and end table that was rough, with a lot of elbow grease, sanding and, Restore-A-Finish I was able to bring them back to their former glory. 

On stuff without a varnish I've had good luck scrubbing with less aggressive scotch brite pads and applying orange oil wax a little goes a long way, and it smells great.

Don't worry, I'm not wrecking quality solid wood furniture.

Chalk paint is expensive, but it's best attribute in my opinion is that it requires pretty much zero prep on most common furniture materials. Just wipe them down and paint. It can be a time saver if you're not going for a stained look.

Personally, I'd just paint it all to match.  It'll distress on its own over time.  Trying to get different stains to match on different materials is as much art as it is science and doing a light coat of anything over the mismatched bases isn't really going to hide the differences.

I was gonna comment, but realized this thread was old and the furniture is probably already done.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I hear chalk paint is having a resurgence in canoe panting

dorothyparr said:

Super! I also want to buy good furniture for my yard

Do you have a pond in your yard?  You will need it for that canoe. 

FionaWilson said:

I know that high-quality solid wood of dense species such as teak, pine, beech, larch, and acacia are used for making outdoor furniture.

Seems you'd want less dense wood for your canoe, as that would reduce weight and increase float-ability.