It can be intimidating to take the plunge and go bold on your color choice and sometimes your space may not be able to handle a huge burst of color. That’s the beauty of the two tone distressing technique—you get the best of both worlds. You get a pop of color, but its toned down.

When try out this technique, you can use any colors you want, but we find you get the most impact with two contrasting colors. This could mean a dark and a light color or two colors on the opposite side of the color spectrum. The choice is yours and possibilities are endless! It’s an easy to achieve finish and adds so much life to your piece. Check out the pictures below and read through our step-by-step guide to achieve a similar finish!

1. Naila started by applying a coat of Annie Sloan’s Aubusson blue, which is a beautiful vibrant teal color. Because we planned to distress it, there was no need to paint for full coverage!
2. After painting the layer of Aubusson blue, Naila added two thin coats of Paris Grey.  This time, she painted for a higher coverage.
3. Once the paint has dried fully (which takes less than 30 minutes with Annie Sloan’s paint!), we added a light coat of clear wax. By waxing before distressing, Naila eliminated a lot of the dust and also had more control over were paint came off.
4. Grab your favorite distressing tool (we used a medium grit sanding sponge) and go to town! This step is where you really get to be creative in deciding where to take off paint and how much to take off. However, a good starting point when distressing are those places that get the most natural wear and tear: the corners and edges. From there, you can choose to add another light layer of wax or continue sanding to have more of the color underneath show through. Just remember to take a step back every so often and take a look at the piece!

This entire look, from start to finish, took Naila about two hours and we could not be more thrilled with the results! We love the classic lines juxtaposed with the heavy distress, which really adds a contemporary edge! Remember that just like a signature, everyone’s distressing technique is unique. There’s a million ways to go about and no way is wrong. If you aren’t quite ready to jump in though, consider registering for our Chalk Paint 101 course!

Check back next week for another transformation! And remember to send us before and after pictures of your favorite makeovers for a chance to be featured on the blog! Happy painting!