For those of you that do not like painted wood, close your
browser and enjoy the rest of your day.
As for the rest you (that, like me, love the look of painted wood), we
will be sharing pictures of how we transformed our paneled family room. When we bought our new home, most of the house
had been updated with neutral colors, white trim and like-new wood floors and
new carpets. The only room that didn’t
seem to fit the rest of the house was the family room. The pictures below are a great set of “before”
photographs. The part that bothered me
most was how the dentil crown molding and fireplace seemed to fade away. And, let’s face it, I have always liked painted
wood.
We had some help from an interior designer and she suggested
treating walls with a white-wash finish.
We did a lot of research and finally found a blog where someone was
successful with the same look that we were hoping for. Here’s the link: http://justatouchofgray.blogspot.com/2011/08/whitewash-treatment.html
First, we tested it on some extra bookcase shelves. We loved it and began our project.
Rob cleaned, sanded, and painted the walls. Cleaning: TSP solution. Sanding: fine grit and wiped with a cheese
cloth. (He also used a sponge sanding cloth in the groves of the paneling.) Painting: a paint mixture of 2:1 (a neutral
interior latex paint: water), applied it with a lamb’s wool stain applicator
and wiped off with a thin, cotton rag to create the weathered, white-wash look.
Then, we used oil-based paint that matched the trim in the
rest of the house to paint the molding and bookcases. It took forever. Really.
And that was just the first coat.
The dentils needed at least three coats to really get good
coverage. After we finished, we put the
old-style writing paper back in the bookcases, and added matching curtains to
complete the look. We also decided to do
the white-wash on the cabinet doors for the bookcase and loved it!
The finished look is below. After we took the photos, we added some artwork above the couch.
