Distressed Book Shelves

What Are Distressed Book Shelves?

You have surely seen beautiful old pieces of antique furniture that have a few cracks and dings in them. Those cracks and those dings are what give the furniture character - character that helps create warmth in many homes. Distressed book shelves are like these old pieces of furniture - they have a “lived in” look that these old antique pieces of furniture have - but they are actually new. These book shelves have been “distressed” to look older than they really are. After all, why should you have to wait around for your furniture to mature and gain those little character pieces? With distressed shelves, you can enjoy that character charm as soon as you bring your new book shelves through the door. Further, antique furniture is often extremely expensive - too expensive for many budgets. Distressed bookcases are more budget friendly and easier for everyone to own.

Furniture manufacturers use a variety of different methods to create distressed book shelves, including:

• Rasping - A metal scrapper called a rasp is run over the edges of the book shelf until they start to wear down and crack. This has the same effect as rubbing sand paper in the corners of your furniture until some wear and tear begins to show.
• Fly Specking - As the name suggests, specks of paint are flicked across the surface of a book shelf in a random pattern. The “fly” name comes from the desired effect - a look that a bug dipped its legs in your paints and wandered across the surface of your book shelf.
• Burnishing - Have you ever seen wood that looks as though it has been singed or burned in certain areas - that is what burnishing does. The wood is actually burned and then stained over the burned part.
• Hand Rubbing - Hand rubbing is done after your book shelves have been painted or stained the color you want. Just before the paint is dry, a different color stain or paint is randomly rubbed into areas of the shelves to create an off kilter color effect.
• White Pumice - White pumice stone is used to slightly scrape the surface of the book shelves. The pumice leaves a white stain behind as well.
• Cow Tailing - A paint brush is used to create streaks of paint across the surface of the book shelves. The effect of cow tailing is very dramatic as compared to fly specking.
• Crackle Finish - Crackle finishing gives the surface of your distressed bookcase a cracked appearance. The crackle finish is applied over the paint or stain, when it is dry.
• Worm Holes - We all know that worms love wood, and many antique pieces show where worms have burrowed into the wood to have a feast. With distressed shelves, this effect is created by hammering a hot nail randomly into the surface of the shelf.

Where Can I Use a Distressed Book Shelf?

A distressed book shelf makes a great addition to rooms of many styles, including Cottage style design, Country Farmhouse style design, English Country style design, and Old World style design, to name but a few. Of course, given the antiqued nature of distressed bookcases, they do work best in design style that incorporate at least some elements of classic design styles. Distressed book shelves, for instance, would not be a great choice for Contemporary style rooms or Minimalist design styles.