If you have taken a recent stroll through a "ordinary" furniture shop lately (no bare wood furniture in sight), you've probably noticed that many of the more popular items are "weathered" or "distressed." It is the furniture equivalent of "stone washed jeans."

Unfortunately, as the distressing is done via machine, there is always a discernable pattern to be found in it, and this, in my mind, makes it almost not even worth buying.

Now, most persons who gravitate toward bare wood furniture are independent do-it-yourselfers, and will always be on the lookout for tips and methods to assist make the results of their hobby even more striking than ever. If you would like to give your furniture a nice, truly random distressed appearance, this suggestion might be simply what you have been looking for.

Before you get to the step of staining wood furniture, simply take a 3'-4' length of chain and work the furniture over with moderately hard blows. Not too hard, as we don't wish to crack anything, but certainly hard enough to leave marks! Distress your bare wood furniture to taste, then sand and stand as typical. The "bruises" and indentations will be differently colored and the in general effect will be a rugged, weathered look that's quite attractive.

If the thought of beating the daylights out of your beautiful piece of bare wood furniture gives you the willies, I would suggest practicing on a test board, then staining and noting the results, as there is certainly no taking it back once the deed is done!

And if you're still uneasy about using that tip, here's one that may be more to your liking.

When sanding in preparation for staining wood furniture, sometimes it happens. As you are bent over the wood, that bead of sweat that was building up on your brow decides it's no longer content there, and splat! Right onto the wood. If you only stain it at this point, you will have a watermark where the stain reacts visibly differently to that spot of the wood, so what to do?

Well, you could just write it off as a "character mark" and have done with it, but if you would rather reduce its impact, finish sanding and wipe the piece with a tack cloth. Then, clean the whole piece again, this time with a lightly damp rag. Let dry completely before proceeding. You might not be able to take the drop of sweat back, but you can minimize its presence with this simple trick.

These are but 2 things you can do before or during the process of staining wood furniture to aid enhance the overall look of the piece.

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