Whitewashed Wood Technique {Tutorial}

* You can now see the finished pallet wall here.

First off, I am not experienced with whitewashing wood, BUT I did whitewash the wood on Owen's wall.  I really like how it turned out.  I thought I would pass along what I learned from doing it.  The photo below shows half whitewashed wood and half original wood. 

I found whitewashing to be fairly easy.  Maybe that's because I did it wrong???  Who knows, but I thought mine turned out great!  I'm pretty sure I can apply this technique to furniture as well.  But then again, I don't mind taking risks with paint.

One thing I noticed was the color of the wood had an effect on the outcome.  I know this might sound like a no brainer, but I really didn't consider that when doing this.  The color of the paint did too, but I figured that was a no brainer.  When I first started, I used the same paint color from Owen's walls mixed in with a little of this taupe gray color from Benjamin Moore.  The outcome was not so great. It turned out purple-ish.  Not the look I was going for for a little boy's room.  He ain't no Prince.  Purple rain.  Purple rain. (I wish there were a music note key on the Mac :)  I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn't.  Luckily, I only painted two small boards before I changed paint colors.  I ended up using only the wall color for my boards, which the outcome was perfect.  I have to say I was really lucky to only fail once with the color choice.  If you do this, you may need to fiddle with your paints on spare wood to achieve your desired outcome.

Supplies Needed:

1 part paint (I used Benjamin Moore's Decorators White)
*2 parts water  (meaning if you used 2 oz of paint, use 4 oz of water)
Paintbrush
Cup
Dry cloth (I used cheesecloth)


*The ratio of paint and water may not be important.  You just want to water down the paint, so the wood will show through.  So don't sweat over the actual measurements.  It. must. be. 2. oz!! j/k

** I sanded my boards with 80 grit paper before application. 

Mix your paint and water together really well in a plastic cup or bowl.  You will want to apply a small amount of mixture using a paintbrush.  You will work in small batches.  DO NOT apply paint to the entire surface you are working on expecting to be able to thin it out.  My brain tells me your paint will dry, and even if you wet it, you risk having paint lines.  But don't worry.  This isn't a terribly time consuming project.

 Using your cloth, rub the paint in the direction of the wood grain. 

You should be able to spread it out easily.  For my project, I left some of the original color on the boards, so I wasn't getting into every nook and cranny. 

Spread it out as much as you can.

This is what my board looked like afterwards.  (It's the second board down.)
 

Repeat the steps all over again covering new wood. 

Here are the completed whitewashed boards.  Some boards I chose to use two applications of paint.  Sorry, no finale shots of Owen's room just yet. ;)

 

 And here is a reminder of what the wood use to look like. 

This was an easy technique, and I would love to try this on a dining table!  Hmm, I am eating a card table right now. (Insert thought, *make my own table?*)

So what do you think?  Did I do a good job?  Would you try this technique in your home?

*You can now see the finished room here.

xx nancy

My quilting book released Sept. 24, 2015 and is available on Amazon.  Check it out!

I'm sharing this with:
Somewhat Simple,  30 Handmade Days, Making It with Allie,