How to Paint and Distress a Laminate Bookshelf
by
Mauri
5 Materials
$40
4 Hours
Medium
Hi friends! My name is Mauri and I blog at TheAmericanPatriette.com where I share ideas for all things home to help women bring beauty into their homes and ultimately make them places to gather. I love sharing easy-to-follow, budget-friendly, and beautiful DIY tutorials!
Here's an overview of how to very easily and inexpensively give laminate furniture an antique look. I have the full, detailed tutorial on my blog!
Here's the before picture of the laminate piece that I got at Goodwill for $25. If it's not already painted, no need for rough sanding. Just some light sanding will do.
Paint the entire piece with regular latex paint you'd find at Lowe's or Home Depot. No need for priming!
After you fully paint your furniture with a few solid coats of latex, you'll use some acrylic paint to make spots all over your furniture where you're going to end up giving it a crackled look.
Once the acrylic paint dries, you'll generously spread Elmer's glue on the spots.
After applying the Elmer's glue, let it sit for just a bit and then generously apply another coat of latex paint over the glue/acrylic spot with the paint roller.
You'll see it crackle after just a few minutes.
Once you've done all of the crackle, you can do some dry-brushing to give it more of a distressed look.
After it's completely dry, it's time for the finishing touches! Put on the backing...
And some wooden detail.
And now enjoy your new piece! You can find a lot more details for dry times, technique, and materials over on my blog post.
Such a beautiful piece without too much work or financial investment!
You'll have so much fun with this project!
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Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 of 41 comments
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Love this idea, to use Elmer's glue. I bought a kit once, it cost the moon and barely got the piece done! The side wasn't really good. This is inexpensive and wonderful!
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That is a big WOW. Beautiful and unexpected.
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Omg! It’s beyond gorgeous!! Thank you for sharing this with us! Would the Elmer’s glue distress technique work on any type of furniture or glass or ceramic? Just curious... THANK YOU!😊❤️
Looks nice but how about posting the redo also?