As you guys know, we white washed our wood paneling in our living room and dining room. It was sort of a shot in the dark, but we figured we could always just paint it solid if we didn't like it. That was our original plan anyway. Our paneling is real wood, not the veneer stuff you see sometimes so thats what sold us on keeping it. We knew we needed to lighten the room, but didn't want to completely compromise the wood look. Thus began the white wash discussion, and luckily my MIL decided she'd come up to join the fun... aka help our clueless selves out!
Here's what we started with...
Feel like you're in the mountains?
Yes, we know -- loooots of brown, but look at those huge windows. Pretty green views were what we were looking at when we bought the house... not all the paneling.
We knew we could change that part.
BEFORE, hand me down furniture and all...
My MIL and master mind behind how to white wash!
First step: clean clean clean
We used a Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) spray and sponges - wear gloves!
50+ years of DIRT - yuck!
Then you sand...
Then it was time to paint. We chose a whitish paint color with a tint of grey {your surprised, right?}. We mixed it with paint thinner. Gosh, this was done a year ago so I have no idea what the ratio was {yes, I realize this is an important step}, but I want to say it was about 80% paint, 20% paint thinner. We messed with it a little.
My MIL and I explored all kinds of ways to apply it to the walls - sponges, paint brushes, towels/cloths - but what we found worked the best was a sock. Yep, a sock. So we went with it!
The next part was just trial and error. I found it best to dunk half of my sock in the paint/thinner mixture rub it on the wall then use my drier end of the sock to smear it around a little more.
The white wash really doesn't photography well, but the photo below is the best representation of how it looks in person. We love that the knots and grain show through so you can still tell that it's wood.
But look how much it lightens the room!
BEFORE
AFTER
Then we replaced the trim, added crown molding, painted the fireplace white, added new furniture, and....
NOW
See more about the process of renovating our living room and many more AFTER photos {
here}.
And look! Tyler Wisler on Design Star even did it in episode 3! What gorgeous arches!
What do you think of the white wash?
It might not be a look for everyone, but we absolutely love it.
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