We do aging of furniture in Provence style with our own hands

Vintage style periodically returns to our lives. It can be reflected in clothing models, accessories, and the design of living spaces. Different times bring their own features to fashion, and if there are no things in grandma's chests or attics that can be shaken off the dust of time and presented as ultra-fashionable, home craftsmen create them with their own hands.

Fashion periodically returns, and today many have grown interested in the Provence style, which is distinguished by its emphasized simplicity and provinciality ("Provence" means "province"). Its homeland is France, but it is associated not with the wealth of royal palaces, but with simple peasant home decoration, fresh milk, lavender fields.

Its characteristic features are:

• pastel colors in home and furniture design;
• use of floral patterns in design;
• sewing, flounces, ruffles on tablecloths, curtains, napkins;
• various figurines and all kinds of souvenirs made of porcelain, ceramics, fabric.

To decorate it, you don't necessarily have to look for any unusual things: you can choose from the furniture that is standing idle in the attic or in the barn what will be on the crest of fashion. Other, economically sound options are also possible.

Benefits of DIY

In order to create a fashionable interior, it is not necessary to spend crazy money. It can be done at home without much material costs, using simple techniques. One of the ways to transform modern interior design items is to age furniture in the Provence style with your own hands.

At the same time, transforming familiar things at home has a number of positive aspects:

• you can do all the work without looking back at the time;
• the furniture will be decorated in the colors that the master likes;
• If you use old interior elements that are already in the house, the family budget will hardly suffer.

What should be the furniture in the Provence style

Household items made in this style solution are distinguished by a certain lightness and laconicism, reflected in the color scheme. It is dominated by white, baked milk and lavender. Provence was close to nature and simplicity, so all interior elements belonging to it are made of natural materials: wood, stone, fabric. As it is customary to define today, this is an eco-style. It is reflected in the equipment of the room, in the interior items: simple, rather old tables, chairs, cabinets, wrought iron beds, napkins and tablecloths made of linen - everything creates a unity of design.

Furniture in the Provence style made by hand performs, in addition to its main functionality, also a decorative role. It should be:

• old or aged, with scuffs, chips or traces of wormholes that appear with prolonged use of furniture;
• necessarily - painted with light paint that has lost its shine;
• made of natural wood: walnut, oak or chestnut.

As for the color scheme, the style requires delicate, pale, slightly faded shades:

• white and milky;
• beige;
• olive green;
• lavender or sea colors,
• ochre, terracotta.

As strange as it may seem, an old cabinet with peeling paint is the most trendy element when decorating a room in this style.

Furniture Aging Techniques

One of the ways to transform modern furniture into interior design items in a provincial style is to age it. This effect can be achieved using various methods. The most effective and frequently used are:

The most commonly used method of aging is chemical aging, using various processing techniques and materials.

1. Paint treatment

   

This type of work does not require serious financial investments - usually water-based paint of the appropriate color shade is used. Before applying it, the area is treated with acrylic primer for wood. After complete drying, light-colored paint is applied or ready-made artificial patina is used.

2. Using paraffin and paint

   

A simple option for furniture treatment, for which the old paint coating is cleaned from the area to be treated with sandpaper. Then the surface is rubbed with paraffin, and then paint is sprayed from a can.

There is no need to achieve an even layer of coating: individual unpainted areas will correspond to Provence.

After drying, the painted wood is treated with a clean, hard sponge, which removes excess material. It is important not to overdo it, so as not to remove most of the applied coating.

To enhance the aging effect, craquelure varnish is used.

In addition, design techniques are used to give the home the appropriate stylistic features:

• use of fabrics that reflect the style features;
• production of additional decorative elements;
• selection of color solutions traditional for a given style;
• furniture treatment with paint with a gilding effect;
• decoration with stylized accessories.

Necessary materials

The set will be determined by what kind of item is being aged and what method is used. If you plan to decorate an entire room in eco-style, you need to prepare an extended list of them, which includes:

• upholstery fabrics for chairs or sofas that match the color of the interior;
• wooden blocks for making overhead decorative elements;
• acrylic paints of the required colors and shades;
• acrylic primer;
• matte water-based varnish without a specific unpleasant odor;
• fine-grained abrasive materials;
• PVA glue for woodworking;
• decoupage napkins;
• fasteners;
• foam sponge;
• paraffin or candles.

Necessary tools

You can execute the elements using the following set of tools:

• brushes of various sizes;
• jigsaw or chisels for cutting out decorative elements;
• spatulas or a knife to remove paint.

Manufacturing process: step-by-step instructions

To decorate furniture in eco-style, you can use the one that was taken out of sheds and attics. This is the most successful budget option. The manufacturing process will depend on what interior items are in question, but there are general rules associated with the aging process, which makes them especially colorful and meets the style requirements of a la Provance.

You need to start by removing the old paint from the product. If it is applied in several layers, it is most convenient to scrape them off with a spatula or knife, then sand with sandpaper with a coarse abrasive coating. If you cannot remove the paint, then you will have to carry out further work on the existing coating.

Aging is done with paint; it is applied to the surface of the furniture with a flat brush. After complete drying, you can begin sanding the area being treated, then begin decorating.

For this you can use:

• carved wooden elements decorated with floral patterns that can then be nailed or screwed in place;
• if you don’t have the ability to draw, you can transfer the image onto tracing paper, then cut it out along the outline and transfer it onto a wooden surface;
• craquelure technique, widely used in decoupage: it gives the effect of an old cracked surface;
• Decoupage napkins with Provence-style designs that can be transferred to the doors of a sideboard or wardrobe.

If you don’t have any artistic abilities, you can use ready-made fittings that will help give the furniture elements the appropriate features of the Provencal style: legs, door handles, figured overlays on keyholes.

If the work is done correctly and in compliance with the relevant instructions, furniture made in this style will give the room a feeling of comfort and coziness.

Video: DIY Provence-style interior. Veranda design.

Photo ideas for decorating furniture with your own hands in the Provence style: