How to distress furniture

I LOVE distressing furniture!!! Drew worked at a custom cabinet shop in college sanding kitchen cabinets 8 hours a day for $9 an hour. He learned some super great skills though that came in handy when I wanted to learn to distress furniture.Here are my super tools!Both can be found at Home Depot (although I am usually a Lowe's girl).OK here we go:1. Lightly sand the furniture you are distressing. The shinier the finish the more I sand. You want to make sure the sealer for your piece is totally off.2. Apply 1 coat of paint. I have used spray paint and applied paint with a brush or roller. If you spray paint it you have to make sure it's even, and you will use more than 1 coat. Both techniques have been successful. I go back and forth.3. Allow paint to fully dry and then pull out your sanding sponge and go to town. It is up to you here how distressed you want your piece to be. I love how this step is different with every piece of furniture. I never know how it will turn out. I just keep sanding until it looks right. Start with the corners and decorative edges in the wood and work your way in.4. Grab a couple of rags and dip one in the glaze. Apply a heavy layer to the furniture, one section at a time. The heavier the layer the more forgiving the glaze will be. Wipe the glaze off with a clean rag until you achieve the look you want. I wipe it almost completely off. So for example you will do one leg of a table and then move on to the next leg. The longer the glaze sits the harder it is to get off and your paint will be darker. So apply heavy and wipe fast. If you apply it too thin and wait too long to wipe it will be blotchy. The glaze will give your piece depth.5. Apply your sealer with a brush. This will keep your piece from chipping and complete your look. You are FINISHED!Here are a couple of my favorite pieces I have done.....Dinning room hutch painted with Martha Stewart SHALEDresser painted with Valspar Hotel Ivory spray paint. Top painted with Martha Stewart MILK PALE.End table spray painted in flat white spray paintCoffee table spray painted in flat white spray paintHappy DISTRESSING!!!! :)