How to Whitewash a Table Top

I am the owner of what was once a roadside-abandoned kitchen table.  The legs are painted a gorgeous rich red but when it was rescued the table top had a hand-painted plaid motif down the centre.  I lived with it as such until my mom said "You should really do something with that table, paint it or something...."

It was true, I had become so accustomed to its ugliness, I no longer noticed it.  So over a year ago, when I was on a very high dosage of the prescription drug Prednisone, (I mention this because Prednisone can create in one a sense of... let's just say...."unabashed enthusiasm") I awoke very early one morning (very little sleep being another side-effect of the medication), grabbed some paint from the studio and repainted my kitchen table with large bold flower-like swirls.

table extension sanded and painted table top 

I still believe the flowers were an improvement over the plaid and I happily lived with it until the past few months when I began to hide it under various tablecloths.  So last week I dismantled the table, hauled it into the driveway and began the process of stripping, scraping and sanding (thank you Dad for the loan of the belt sander!!).

Stinky, messy, toxic stripper. This wasn't working for me.

Out came the big guns, my dad's belt sander!

Getting there, very slowly

Finally beautiful bare wood.

With the top down to bare wood (I'll spare you the details of how long that took), I decided to whitewash the top. I used a mixture of two acrylic paint colours: unbleached titanium and white. Mixing 2 parts paint and one part water I brushed on the paint using long strokes going with the grain of the wood, then with a slightly damp cloth I wiped off the excess paint to even it out and reveal the wood grain.

Unbleached Titanium Acrylic Paint

The extension whitewashed

Final result 

With the top completely whitewashed and dried I very lightly sanded over the entire top (220 grit sandpaper), moving in the direction of the grain. A quick wipe with a cloth and I was ready to put on the varnish: two coats of matte and a final coat which I mixed half matte, half satin finish varnish. Be sure to give each coat time to dry and sand lightly before the next layer.  I'm delighted with the result and won't be hiding it under a tablecloth any time soon!

Thank you for stopping in at My Turquoise Kettle Life today.

Paint yourself the perfect day!

Sandra