Restoration Hardware Weathered Finish with Paint

Now for the fun part! Creating a weathered wood finish with mostly paint. Since Bondo doesn’t stain well I couldn’t stain the wood and then dry brush a weathered wood look like most people do. So instead I reversed the technique.

Get more refinishing furniture tips and ideas here!

Closeups of chair before, during and after restoration hardware weathered finish with paint

Table of Contents

Supplied Used for Restoration Hardware Weathered Finish with Paint

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220 Grit Sandpaper
Slightly Damp Rag
Dollar Store Paint Brush
Kindling by Behr (Base Coat)
Suede Gray by Behr (Base Coat)
Scarecrow by Sherwin Williams (Dry Brush)
Black by Behr (Dry Brush)
Paper Towels
Cut Up Old T-shirt or these Prepacked Lint Free T-Shirt Rags
Foam Brush
Dark Walnut Wood Stain by Minwax
Wipe on ‘Satin’ Poly by Minwax

You can also create this similar look from this post on how to create a weathered wood gray finish on the tops of your white farmhouse end tables. Or see how it looks on a painted coffee table!

Prepare Furniture for Weathered Wood Finish

To start I removed the fabric seats and set them aside. Then I lightly sanded the chairs down to help ensure the paint would adhere to the old finish.

Next I wiped them down to remove any dirt and grime as well as the dust the sandpaper left behind.

Learn all about how to clean furniture here and how to prepare furniture for painting here.

Brush Base Coat

To create the most layers at once I brushed on Kindling and Suede Gray for the base coat.

Chair with removed fabric seat and brushed with base coat

There was no rhyme or reason to when I used each paint, I just brushed one color on here and there and then the other color right over it and onto a new area; all the while using the same brush.

(I made each of these paint colors into homemade chalk paint with my favorite recipe!)

Each time I would run the brush in long strokes to make the paint colors slightly blend, but also mimic a dry brush feel.

We didn’t want the edges to be super noticeable as to where we stopped and started a new color.

It was so much faster to do both colors at once than to paint all one color, wait for it to dry, and then essentially dry brush the other color over it. I’m all for saving a bit of time!

How to Dry Brush Paint

Once the base coat was dry I got into the real dry brushing mode.

Using Scarecrow and Black (both were leftover from different projects – if you have something similar already on hand, go ahead and use those!) I created long faint brush strokes on the base coat.

If you haven’t done dry brushing before, it’s super simple.

Closeup of chair leg after dry brushing paint

Lightly dip your brush (I usually pour a little bit of paint onto the lid of the can, or onto a paper plate so I don’t get too much on my brush) into a small amount of paint.

It should just barely have any paint on it.

Then dab the brush onto a clean paper towel to remove any excess paint. You basically want your brush almost dry (ahhhh that’s why they call it DRY brushing 😉 ).

Chair with removed fabric seat and after dry brushing paint

When starting off, very very lightly start brushing paint on. As the brush loses it’s paint you can start brushing more and more hard to get that paint off of the brush.

Continue to brush in long strokes. Once again, there was no rhyme or reason to this.

I dry brushed the whole chair in Scarecrow and then with a clean brush, dry brushed the Black on. I wanted the dry brushing to mimic wood grain with light (Scarecrow paint) and dark (Black) grains.

Let all the paint completely dry.

Stain and Topcoat Weathered Wood Furniture

After everything was dry we wiped on the dark walnut stain using a foam brush; making sure to get into all of the crevices with the brush.

Chair with removed fabric seat and after wiping dark walnut stain

With this coat we wanted to get everywhere! After brushing the stain onto about half of the chair, we went back and wiped off the excess stain with a cut up old t-shirt.

Once again making sure to wipe everywhere. This coat takes the longest to dry. Leave it for a good day (or more if you can stand it.)

Finally we made it to the top coat, the wipe on poly! I love this stuff, but since it is oil based, I only use it on pieces that are stained, or meant to somewhat resemble wood.

Simply wipe on the poly with a cut up t-shirt in long even strokes. I like to apply at least 2 coats to make sure my finish is durable.

I couldn’t be happier with the finish! It is the perfect weathered wood made simple with paint and a bit of stain!

You can also check out another method for the best stain for weathered wood look here.

The best part is that the chewed up holes in the legs were repaired AND I was still able to get the weathered wood look!

To finish off the ever so popular look I reupholstered the seats with black vinyl. Kid friendly & in style! Wahoo! I can just see them now with a beautiful white or black dining table. Mmmmm!

Closeup of chair after topcoating with poly

Chair after restoration hardware weathered finish with paint and reupholstered with black vinyl seat

More Before And After Makeovers

Click any of these “before” photos below to view the “after” of that makeover.

If you have any questions about this finish be sure to comment below! I would love to help you out with your painting adventures!