2023. 9. 25. 22:54ㆍDIY projects
Have you ever worked with edge-glued pine board?
I recently made 2 dressers and used an edge-glued pine board for the top. I think It's a pretty good and affordable material for DIY projects.
However, the natural yellow color bothered me a little. I could've used it as it was, but I wanted to make it look more modern than the raw feeling.
I wanted to make the pine board a soft grey color with a little brown mixed in. But I knew it was hard to get that color with only one stain color. So I had to be a little creative to make it.
First, I had to take the yellowish color off of the pine board. I thought any stain color would come out darker and stronger with the yellowish surface, so I decided to white wash it.
Since this was my first time whitewashing, I didn't know which stain to buy. There were some different options and they all result in a slightly different look.
I ended up buying white wash pickling(B4580) from Behr, and it was only because I was used to the Behr's stain line.
I bought the smallest container which was 8oz, just in case I didn't like it.
Before white washing, I applied a wood conditioner(pre stain) first. I also used only the right side of the pine board so I could compare the white wash area with the orginal area.
I wiped the excess wood conditioner after 5 minutes, and then gave it another 20 minutes to dry.
This caused the wood grains to raise a little so I had to sand the board and then I applied the White Wash Pickling.
This was after the first coat. It came out much clearer than I thought. It almost looked like it was just wet from water and not white washed at all.
If I looked at it from the side, I could see a little white-ish color but it still didn't look white washed enough for me...
So I went ahead and did another coat and it was a little better. I would say it was more like a natural white wood look and not really a white washed look.
Since I wasn't satisfied with Behr's White Wash Pickling, I had to find a different way to do it.
While I was searching for other brands' white wash stains, I figured out I could make one myself.
It looked like people usually mix white paint(flat or matte sheen) or ceiling paint with water with a 1 to 1 ratio. I didn't have any white paint or ceiling paint at that time, but I did have Kilz 2 primer. So I decided to make my own white wash stain with the primer.
I did the same process on the left side of the same pine board for the new primer mixture and it actually came out really good.
I only did one coat of the primer mixture, but it looked way whiter than the two coats of the Behr's White Wash Pickling.
I definitely liked the primer mixture, so I decided to use that as the white wash stain for my dresser top.
After I got my white wash, the next step was to choose another stain to use on top of it.
I already had Behr's Golden Pecan, but I needed something darker to create a little grey. So I bought the Behr's 8oz Special Walnut from Home Depot.
So I applied one line of the Special Walnut through the entire board. Except for the middle one(not white washed area), It was not bad. But I realized the original color and pattern of that area I first applied was a little different than the other parts. So I had to apply another line of the Special Walnut.
As you can see, they are different. The second row is a little darker than the first row.
So, I wanted to mix the Special Walnut with my primer mixture white wash stain to make it a little lighter and softer.
The left container is Special Walnut, and the cup on the right is the Special Walnut mixture with primer white wash stain.
It changed into a greyish color.
The third row is the Special Walnut mixture. I really liked it, and I think it gives off such a rustic look.
This is a closer look at the stains on top of the white wash stain.
The left side is white washed by my Kilz primer mixture and the right side is white washed by Behr's White Wash Pickling.
Even though the white wash stains are different, the other color stains on top of them are not really different.
These stains without white wash definitely stick out very strongly compared to the others. I'm sure these are good colors in some ways, but I didn't want them for my dresser this time.
I still couldn't pick out one of the stains, so I tried more combinations and finally found the one.
The final color I chose was the second row of this board. It was the combination of my Kilz primer mixture, Special Walnut and Golden Pecan with 0.5 : 1 : 1 ratio on top of the primer mixture white wash stain.
I will reveal how the dresser top came out with a future post, but I can tell you now that it is really beautiful.
I am planning to post about the DIY dresser construction soon, so you will be able to see it shortly.
So... until next time :)