Whitewashed Pine Dresser & Chair

by Country Chic Paint

Want to refurbish your old furniture without losing that beautiful wood grain? Mary from Orphans With MakeUp used Simplicity to whitewash this pine dresser and chair! Read more about how to achieve this look in this post.

whitewashed pine dresser chair, painted furniture, repurposing upcycling

Whitewashing furniture is a great way to revive an old piece of wooden furniture while keeping the wood grain visible.

That's exactly what I had in mind when I acquired this antique pine dresser. I loved the original wood key holes and appliqué. I did not want to cover up the great patina it had acquired over the years but just wanted to update it a bit. Although it is not apparent in the picture below, the wood was uneven in color and there was some old splattered paint. Whitewashing was definitely the way to go.

Here is the "Before" picture.

There are different ways to go about whitewashing furniture. I used a combination of watering down my paint quite heavily, wiping, dry brushing and sanding.

This technique requires so little paint, so if you are left with just bottoms of paint in your cans, think of using them up this way. I used "Simplicity" and watered it down quite a bit. I did not measure it out but it was a lot more water than paint.

So I started by painting the watered down paint and wiping most of it off with a wet rag. This forms my base where the white paint settles into all the grooves and nicks.

I let that dry slightly then I took my brush and dipped it into the watered down paint, blotting off the excess and painting long, quick straight lines and filling in some of the naked spots.

After I let that dry again, I found that there were some uneven thick spots. This is where I took a wet rag and gently brushed the thick spots into their surroundings for an even appearance.

There is no art to this, it is just a matter of playing around with it, adding and subtracting and keep your brush strokes long and straight.

Still not satisfied with the results, I went in and sanded down in certain areas until I had an even application.

So, as I mentioned above, this requires so little paint. After I finished the dresser I still had some watered down paint left, so I decided to paint this chair. I went about it a little different for the chair. Since there was not much surface for brush strokes, I painted the whole chair and when it dried I just simply used a 180 grit sandpaper and sanded most of the paint off. The results are almost identical. Both pieces were then sealed with the Country Chic Paint Natural Wax.

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2 questions

Lanie on Mar 05, 2019

I have a old wood rocker that I want to redo in white or a blue. How would be the easiest way to tackle that. I am a first timer.

1
Mar70835085 on Sep 28, 2022

What prep of the wood was done prior to applying the water downed paint ? Did I miss it?

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5 comments

Hannah V on May 22, 2015
Absolutely beautiful I love white washing!

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- Country Chic Paint on May 26, 2015
  @Hannah V We do too! It's such a great way to achieve a rustic look while brightening up your furniture. ~Sarah
  
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Jacalyn on May 26, 2015
Nice job! White washing can be mesy, but the result is worth it.

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- Country Chic Paint on May 26, 2015
  @Jacalyn Definitely! Since our paint is water-based and eco-friendly, cleanup is a breeze anyway!
  
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