How to paint & distress black furniture

This black table is one of my most recent projects. It was not in perfect condition to start with. Some of the veneer had pieces missing and there was a crack on the top tier. Instead of trying to fill in those areas I embraced them. Below are the steps I took when painting and distressing this piece of furniture.

First, and most importantly, I prepped the piece for paint. As usual, I cleaned it really well with TSP. Next I used 220 grit sand paper to rough it up a bit. Finally I wiped it with a damp cloth to remove dust particles and any remaining residue from the TSP.

Wax Before painting the table I rubbed all of the edges and the detail along the top of the legs with wax. I used an old pillar candle. The wax prevents the paint from adhering and makes distressing a breeze.

Paint I used Dunn Edwards. The color is called Black, pretty straight forward. The sheen is eggshell.

Scrape Using a plastic spatula I rubbled all the areas I had applied wax and watched the paint peel away in those spots.

Sand To smooth it out a bit I quickly and lightly sanded the edges with 100 grit sandpaper.