How to Give New Wood a Weathered Look Easily

Why I Created This Weathered Wood Effect

Sorry team, this DIY project will give you yet another reason to hold on to things that you might have considered throwing away. I'm looking at you, Mr. "those 20 crusty sanding pads still have life left in them." This weathered wood effect is one of my favorite new skills, and saving up those scraps may just come in handy.

I am all about saving scraps and leftover paint, but truthfully, it's extremely rare for things to work out as well as they did for this project. I had a three-year-old half-can of chalkboard paint and an equally old half-can of stone texture spray paint in the garage. Both of which found a way to make the move with us last year. The chalkboard paint had a thick film on top due to neglect. The stone can had been thrown in the trash pile and then rescued on more than one occasion.

The original reason I wrapped my paws around this project was because of my secret whiskey arcade project. The vibe of the arcade was becoming rustic with some modern touches.

Do Shiny Ductwork and Rustic Vibes Mix?

Do you know what clashes with that (and every other style possible)? In-your-face shiny ductwork—not the cool industrial type... what an eyesore.

Here I am, opening a secret door bookcase, walking into a whiskey bar arcade, and instead of looking at the handmade bar or my options for a drink, I am quickly distracted by the long shiny object that runs the length of the room. I decided that I wanted to case the visible side of the ductwork in rustic, weathered wood.

Before: The shiny ductwork was an eyesore

After: Covered with custom weathered wood panels

The problem? I didn't have any rustic, weathered wood.

The irony? Literally one week after finishing this project, I found a truckload of old weathered wood for $20. This became an entire wall in the arcade.

The Secret to Realistic Weathered Wood

I didn't know what I was doing or going to do when I started painting the wood. I quickly realized that weathered-looking paint is as simple as layering and creating depth. With just the right mix of colors, weathered paint can be created from just about any spare, half-empty, partially spoiled paint that you have laying around.

I wound up liking it so much that I blended real weathered wood with my paintings to cover gaps on the wall and on the back of the bookcase door (see pics for examples).

The back of my secret bookcase door featuring both real and faux weathered wood

Installing Weathered Wood on an AC Duct

After creating your weathered wood panels, here's a quick guide to installing them to hide unsightly ductwork:

1. Build a simple frame: Create frames from 2×2s and 2×4s to match the length and width of your ductwork. For long runs, break these into smaller sections.
2. Cut weathered boards to size: Cut your weathered 1×4 pine boards slightly longer than the width of your frame.
3. Hang the frame: Use wood screws to secure the frame to ceiling joists/studs every 5 feet.
4. Attach the weathered boards: Nail the weathered boards to the frame, using one nail at the top and bottom of each board.
5. Add bottom panel if needed: For the underside, attach 1/8" plywood cut to size and apply the same weathering technique.

Simple frame constructed to hide ductwork

Weathered wood attached to the frame

Final Thoughts on Weathered Wood

The skill to draw photo-realistic images of peoples faces, cars and objects is not one that I may ever have. My handwriting looks like kitten-scratch, but I absolutely love chaotic art. Weathering wood doesn't take any particular skill but it is incredibly fun trying to layer different kind of paint in a way that looks natural in the end. It's the kind of art that you feel crazy doing but the end result can be mesmerizing.

I hope you all create some beautiful things with this tutorial. Please feel free to share some finished pictures of your weathered wood effect with us – TheCraftyCatsman@gmail.com

Plywood transformed with the weathering technique