For as long as I can remember, I have wanted an antique church pew for my front entryway. I absolutely love having a piece of furniture right when you walk in that looks as though it has lived many lives, and has stories to tell!!

A bench in my front entry is functional as well. It’s a great place to sit and put on your shoes and provides lots of room for storage baskets below.

It’s not that difficult to find church pews online through sites like Craigslist and Kijiji. However, they are usually 8′-10′ long (way to long for my space) and are not often finished on both sides. They tend to get chopped in half when disassembled from the church, so you can find yourself having a hefty DIY project. I also find that a lot of pews are curved… not so good if you plan of having one up against a wall.

Lucky for me one day I came across this gem on Kijiji for just $50 bucks. I snagged it right away and brought it home. Unfortunately, this one is definitely not that old…. Retro, yes. Antique, no! It’s most likely from the 70s or 80s and has certainly been well used!! The seat is in rough shape. But I love it anyway and am glad to give it a new home. .

I decided to paint mine Angora white and use my favourite “chippy” technique.

The chippy paint technique is used to give pieces a naturally aged look. It’s a more authentic faux-aging process compared to using sandpaper to distress. The goal of the chippy paint technique is to mimic the natural wear and tear of a painted piece of furniture abandoned and exposed to natural elements as seen below.

Most folks assume you can only achieve this look using milk paint. Milk paint generally comes in a powder form and needs to be manually mixed with water to create a liquid. Once mixed, it has to be used within 24 hours and it’s adhesion and finish is not guaranteed, granting you, less control.

However, House&Canvas Furniture Paint can easily be used to create this yummy chippiness. Watch this!!…..

Two Key Factors In Acheiving The Chippy Look:

• Use a heavy-duty putty knife that is semi-sharp all around. Be sure it’s not too big, and not plastic. It’s gotta be heavy-duty and fairly sharp all around!

• Don’t wait too long. If you let your paint dry too much, you won’t get the nice chipping. The paint won’t come off easily, and you run the risk of scrapping right through the wood.

Paint one coat and let it dry for one hour. Paint another coat and let it dry for another hour or two at most. Then chip away!!!

You can see in the video that once I chip away the paint a bit, I follow over it with some sandpaper to smooth it out. You can chip away as much or as little as you like. Once you are done chipping your paint off, let it dry overnight and apply one or two coats of House&Canvas Furniture Wax Top Coat to seal and protect your piece.