In this easy step by step tutorial I am going to show you how to whitewash wood to give your furniture that classic vintage look.
Hi everyone! Today I am going to teach you how to whitewash wood! It might look complicated because the results are AWESOME, but the process actually goes pretty fast and isn’t hard at all!
I had a custom order for a table made from an old pine farmhouse door that had yellow paint as the original finish. The request was that the paint have shades of aqua and blue with a white wash. They didn’t want it too bright, but they asked that I make it look old and original, like it has been sitting on the farm for 100 years. OK – I can do that.
Whitewash Paint
Before you begin the process of whitewashing the wood you need to choose your paint colors. I chose these latex flat paints colors for this project:
How To Whitewash Wood Furniture
1. PAINT
I painted the entire table with a quick coat of FLORIDA KEYS BLUE using a small paint roller, it does not have to be perfect- you will see why.
Next – mix up a ratio of approximately 70% water with 30% paint in you next color choice that you would like to layer on (paint should be the consistency of skim milk) I chose SUMMER BASKET GREEN because it was a nice compliment to the blue. Roll it on, right on top of the blue. Again, it does not have to be perfect.
Once it is dry it was time for the white wash. Apply one more layer using the same watered down mixture of 70% water with 30% paint of your final paint color- for me it was NAVAJO WHITE to add the look of the white wash.
2. SAND
When the paint is dry give it a good overall sanding with 250 to 320 grit sand paper. (I use an orbital sander.) This will remove some of the white on the surface and expose the paint colors underneath plus it gives the table a nice overall distressed look. Can you can see the original yellow paint as well as the pine wood peeking out?
3. FINISH
There ‘ya go, now you know how to whitewash wood!
More Easy DIY Projects
- How To Make A Cinder Block Bench
- DIY Console Table
- DIY Plank Flooring
- 10 Tiled Flooring Ideas
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About the Author: Lori is the talented DIY blogger behind Frugal Farmhouse- a blog she uses to document her creative endeavors. Stop by and see what else she is working on!
UPDATE: It looks like Lori’s blog FrugalFarmhouseDesign.blogspot.com has been removed. If anyone knows where Lori might be blogging now, please leave me a comment so I can link to her new site. Thanks! 🙂
This guest post originally published on Somewhat Simple in August 2010 and was updated in July 2014
I live in a costal town and building a tiki bar. I looking for a good paint combination to paint the bar cabinet. I purchased a sink amazon for the top of the lower section of the bar. eclife 16.5″ Turquoise Square Bathroom Sink Artistic Tempered Glass Vessel Sink Combo with Faucet 1.5 GPM and Pop up Drain Bathroom Bowl A10 (Square Turquoise). The top of the bar will be tile but I am waiting for the sink to deliver before find a tile for the top. Would you recommend using the same colors as the table? I was thinking about painting the cabinet coral first and then using the same color as in the article. I am not a single man and figuring out colors is not my best interest. Please advise.
Thanks for all your help.
Chris
Is ther any prep work I need to do before the first coat of paint?
I can not wait to go paint using this whitewashed technique. Thank you so much.
Thanks for stopping by, Jackie!
Great job,
I absolutely love this!!!!!I
What happened to FRUGAL FARMHOUSE DESIGN …… it is not working !
I love this, and this inspired me to tackle my own piece of furniture! Quick question – did you do anything to prep the table before applying your first blue coat? For instance, did you need to sand it or prime it in some way so the Florida Keys Blue would take?
Another cool technique to try out!!
Wow, I love how this table came out. Great job.
The table turned out gorgeous and really does have a patina to it. Great job!