How To Use Vaseline To Distress Wood

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I love adding vintage touches to my otherwise new traditional home. And my favorite thing ever are corbels. I have been searching for decent price corbels high and low...and well, they don't really exist. You either have to make them your own or fork out some moola. So, one day I was strolling through Home Depot, and lo and behold a pair of 'corbels'...really brackets were sitting there for $18. That's like $9 each! I scooped them up and tried to get away with picking up more before my husband gave me the eye :)  You can find similar (and larger) ones on Amazon (here).

 These are 8.5" by 6". So, not very large, but you can make them larger by adding some wood on the corners...which now that I say that, I'm totally going to do it :) But, as is, they are the perfect height for decor and bookends.

So, these are 'corbels' in a sense, but how did I get them to look chippy and wonderfully full of faux vintage goodness? This is my go to way that I learned years and years ago to age any piece of wood. You just need three things: stain, Vaseline, and paint.

Step 1: Stain the wood. You can do the entire thing or just the corners and edges like I did. I also did some of the rounded parts too since I knew I wanted those to show through. I used MinWax in Dark Walnut for mine.

 Step 2: Add Vaseline to the edges and the places you want the stain to show through the wood. I actually used to use baby oil for this part, but realized that Vaseline seemed to work a ton better.

 Step 3: Paint. I really didn't wait for the stain to dry or the Vaseline to penetrate before I painted. I did this whole process in about 10 minutes. I chose to paint with a white satin enamel. I have also done latex paint that works great with this method. With the paint I chose for this project, I did about 3 coats to make sure I had full coverage.

 Step 4: Sand. You'll want to use a small piece of sandpaper for this. I chose a high grit, but you can get away with doing any kind on this really. As you lightly sand the edges and curves, you'll notice where you put the Vaseline will start to come up easily. Work on those parts and sand it until you like the look.

 Here's how amazing a little chippy distressing can make something look. There's so much more age and character to the top one.

 And that's it! The best part about distressing this is that you're paint doesn't have to be perfect. Your distressing skills don't have to be perfect. That's the point! There character lies in the imperfections :)

 I'm not sure I have figured out where to put these yet. But you can see here, where I chose to put the Vaseline all along the curves. They stand out great as random pieces of decor anywhere.

 They also work great as bookends. I actually think this may be my favorite spot for them. This mantel has stayed the same from quite some time, so adding a little bit more character and changing it up a bit is just what it needed :)

 When I get around to adding the extra wood to these to make them bigger, I'll be sure to share it with you!

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