Changing the appearance of pine furniture?

[Ldpqndo]

I'm being given a desk which is that orangey pine. It's great apart from the colour. I would like to change the appearance a bit but with minimal time and faff.
Is there any kind of white wax or something that I could apply to take the colour down and give a whitened effect? Not solid pained white. If that makes sense?

There are a lot of instagrammers doing this by stripping finish then painting with like a wash of very diluted paint or specialist lime wax or something- it’s definitely a big trend.

The orange is likely to be varnish (matt or gloss). You need to either strip it using a varnish stripper (wear gloves and mask/goggles as it's caustic) or sand it back. Then you can stain or paint it whichever colour suits you.

Just sand it down to get rid of varnish and either wax it or and paint it over with paint colour of your choosing.

Unfortunately you are going to have to spend a bit of time and do some faffing if you want any kind of finish that isn’t going to look rubbish and flake off.
If it is varnished, the minimum would be a light sanding down and painting or applying a different coloured varnish.
If it is waxed, I’m not sure if you can just wax over it but I’d think there would have to be some preparation.

I think it's varnished. I don't mind doing a light sanding, I just don't want to have to strip the varnish all off.
What product can I use to get a whitened effect - white finishing wax, or dilute chalk paint?

I don’t think you can wax over varnish. Maybe do a google search for chalky paint.

Lightly sand it then use a chalk paint and then wax it.

Sand the varnish, water down a pale emulsion paint (50/50 works) use a brush and apply with long strokes with the grain, or you can apply with a sponge, less is more. You'll need to finish it with wax or clear varnish to protect the surface.
You can try out the technique on a picture frame or similar, to see if you like the effect.
Good luck!

Perfect, thanks everyone