There are 2 ways to go.
Or you learn texturing, or you learn Posers procedural materials.
Both give good results and most depends on the purpose of the item.

In both cases you need good uv maps, and lucky for us Blender hase very good uv mapping tools and uv map editing tools. 
I spend as much time sculpting and fine tuning the uvmaps as I do on the modeling.

Oh, and I do not have the link handy right now, but there is a tutorial on youtube of how a guy textures a sword in Blender with incredible results.
And Blender 2.72 beta has improved painting tools. 

Poser 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, P8 and PPro2010, P9 and PP2012, P10 and PP2014 Game Dev
"Do not drive faster then your angel can fly"!