Hello! Last week I shared my fall home tour and I mentioned that I had given my crates an aged look. I really love how they came out so I thought I’d share with you how to age wood to get that weathered look. I’ve done this several different ways on several different projects, but I do think this finish is among my favorites so far.
A company called Crates and Pallet were kind enough to supply these crates for me, as well as for one lucky reader. You can find the details on how to enter to win your choice of crates here. The crates I chose arrived to me unfinished.
After experimenting on some scrap wood, this is the technique I went with. I started with a can of Rust-Oleum weathered gray stain*. It’s easy to apply. You brush it on with a paintbrush, let it sit for a minute or two and then rub it off gently with an old cloth. Once that was fully dry, I knew it needed something more. After trying a few different things, of course I ended up using my Annie Sloan dark wax. I applied that directly over the stain. If you want more details on how to apply the wax, you can see how to do that here.
You can see above how it looked before and after the wax. The crate on the left has only the Rust-Oleum stain, the one on the right has the stain followed by the wax. It’s amazing what a difference the wax made, isn’t it?
I would also suggest that you use these products outside or in a well ventilated area because they both give off a stong odor.
I have lots of ideas for using these crates for decorating and for organizing, so I’ll be ordering several more. If you want to see how I styled these crates, you can check out my bar cart shown in my fall home tour post. Be sure to enter the giveaway while you’re there for a gift card to the Home Depot, where these crates are sold. They also have many other styles and finishes to choose from, shown below. Good Luck!
If you’d like to see other techniques I’ve used to achieve a weathered, distressed look check out these posts:
Get a Galvanized Finish With Paint
Pin it for later:
*This post contains an affiliate link, you can read my full disclosure here.
Phyllis says
September 26, 2016 at 2:30 pmThanks for the great information. Do you have information about the Coca-Cola crates pictured? I’ve never seen them unfinished. Would love to know more about them, especially if you have a source to purchase them. Thanks so much!
RoxanneK says
September 26, 2016 at 7:34 pmPhyllis, these crates are sold at the Home Depot and Walmart, as well as a few other stores. Here is a link with more information: http://www.cratesandpallet.com/where-to-buy/
Brooke Riley~Re-Fabbed says
September 27, 2016 at 9:51 amGreat tutorial. So simple! I love that “old” look, and what a fun and easy way to get it! Thank you!
Amy @ my life from home says
September 27, 2016 at 10:12 amGreat information! Love how they turned out. Pinned for later.
Amanda says
September 28, 2016 at 9:47 amIt looks so great! I love this look so much.
Ariel says
September 29, 2016 at 8:57 amGreat product combo! And it allows for some many options after the fact!
Emily says
September 29, 2016 at 10:30 amThe colors of this are so beautiful and rustic!
Kati says
September 29, 2016 at 11:44 amThanks so much for this! I am starting to run out of actual aged wood but I love the look of it so much. Pinned!
Cat @ Pocketful of Posies says
September 30, 2016 at 3:00 pmWhat a great idea Roxanne! I think the dark wax really gives it something extra! It makes those gray tones really standout! I will be using this technique on a future project! Thank you for sharing! Pinning!
Cat
April R - UncookieCutter says
October 2, 2016 at 10:44 amBeautiful Roxanne! It looks amazing! Pinning, this is very useful 🙂
Sara says
October 4, 2016 at 9:31 pmOh my gosh, I would never even think to mix those too!! I seriously love how they turned out. Gonna have to remember this technique!
D says
April 26, 2017 at 7:44 amSo you recommend never using them indoors, or just when you are staining and waxing them?