Country Finishing Style

Country furniture style is the style of furniture that refers to the furniture in the past when technology in the furniture manufacturer was not advanced as it is now. At that time, the furniture was made traditionally with simple tools. The wood was cut with a handsaw and then formed by hand knives and other hand tools. The leveling and smoothing of the wood surface was done using a hand planner, stone, and glass. There was neither sandpaper nor sanding machine. The modern wood adhesive was not available yet; the wood gluing was done with adhesive from animals. The peg, or wood pivot, was used to connect the big wood pieces. 

Now, the process of manufacturing furniture is very far forward. There is a wide range of woodworking machinery and tools available to manufacture furniture in the factories. There are also available portable woodworking tools to be used in the small woodworking shop. The result is the furniture with uniform size, neat and consistent. Meanwhile, the country furniture style has to mimic the appearance of the traditionally handmade furniture, with its imperfectness and inconsistency in shape and size. Then, to produce the country-style products, the proper finishing process is needed. The country finishing is the finishing process to make the furniture “country-looking.”. The country finishing is needed to comply with the design to build the country-style furniture. The country finishing is the tool to make the modern furniture look traditional, handmade, and old.

 Country furniture finishing

Here are some special techniques and materials that are needed to do the "country style furniture.".

• Physical distress

Physical distress is physically “destruction” to the furniture to create the impression of damaged, broken, or imperfect. There are many physical distresses that can be generated to make "country look.". The physical distresses with a rock, file, nail, or hammer are mainly used to make the damage look caused by the physical abuse. The physical distress can also be used to form the traditional impression since of the imperfect production process, such as the uneven surfaces, the imperfect shape, etc. The distress with files, hand planners, or chisels is used for this purpose. Distress can also be made to mimic the impression of being damaged due to the rupture, such as cracking, an open joint, or the imprecision of the shape. You can use the knife, chisel, or nail for this purpose. You can find more about physical distress in our previous article: physical distress for wood finishing

 heavy physical distress

• Glaze application

Glaze is the finishing material that is mainly used to form the appearance of old and ancient looks. Glaze is very important to emulate the country style for the furniture. The patina look that was caused by the ageing process and reaction of wood with the air is easy to duplicate by the glaze application. In the "country finishing," the glaze is also used to create dirty, old-looking effects such as cowtail, antic, dry brush, spatter, etc. See our previous article : glaze application to make antique

There are also available special glazes to make more dramatic antique-looking. Powder glaze is a special glaze to make the dusty look. The glaze with white color also works well to make a wash finish.

 "dirty looked" with glaze

• Stain application.

Stain is material for coloring the wood furniture. To make the country style finish, you can manipulate the stain application with some special techniques. The stain can be highlighted or rubbed off to make the ware look The stain can be applied in the uneven thickness by padding to make smudge look. The stain can also be spattered or splashed to make a spatter, dirty look, or watermark.

If the paint or base coat is used, then you can make the rubbed off, chipping, or crackle effect to make the more dramatic old look. 

 rubbed off paint finish