Talk to me about whitewashing please?

[Spudlet]

Our kitchen has been blessed with much, lovely DIY by previous owners. This includes artex on anything that didn't stand still - I fully expect to find a tragically artex-ed pet at some point - and some lovely tongue and groove type wood panelling.

Now, I could rip the wood off BUT there's probably more artex underneath and we can't afford to do anything about it yet. It's actually quite nice wood - it's got a nice grain to it - but the kitchen is dark (not helped by me choosing totally the wrong floor but we can't change it yet (I blame pregnancy hormones at the time) so I'd like to open it up a bit by lightening the colour. So I wondered about whitewashing, as the grain of the wood would still show... has anyone tried this please?

I've whitewashed wood with watered down emulsion and it works really well. I just slap it on and then leave for 10 mins and wipe with a damp cloth or sponge and apply another coat the same way.

That's our mud room wall.

I like it - that's just what I'm hoping to achieve!

We've got loads of scrap wood waiting to be chopped up for firewood, I'll have to pinch a bit and practice.

I've also used white emulsion with black added to get a grey effect to wood. Don't worry if the first coat looks patchy or streaky - it dries up better and disappears with the second coat. And don't make it too thin - on some wood I've rollered on emulsion thickly - get into the nooks and crannies with a paintbrush and then brushed it with a wet paint brush or sponge to bring the wood up.

The best emulsion I've found is the screwfix no nonsense stuff which gives a good chalky finish.

Have fun!

So basically, slap it on, leave it for 10 minutes then either wipe it down or use a clean dry brush to lift off the excess?

I was hoping to use some of the leftover emulsion from the walls which is the special kitchen paint, would that work?

Good to know about the streaks, dh is not fully convinced and can be a bit of a doom and gloom merchant, so excellent to have ammunition to beat off any wails about streaks

Yes, slap it on and wipe it off is the technique 😆 Tell DH that any streaks are part of the "curing process" and will disappear after the second coat. 😉

Any old emulsion will do really - I use what I have hanging around.

Excellent! I can't wait to give it a go. I've had no energy for decorating for ages, then I've suddenly got it back and have painted a wall in our bedroom to add some colour and reorganised the utility room so the fridge and the washing machine are in a better position (all in ime day 💪), painted test patches in the living room and now I'm gunning for the kitchen

Ah. The decorating muse has hit! I gave the utility room a blitz this weeks as well and redecorated DS2's room. Must be catching 😄 I do get an unhealthy level of satisfaction in seeing it all clean and nice.

What "mistake" did you make with the floor?!

It's too fekkin' dark. I should have gone for a lighter colour, the room can't handle a (to all intents and purposes!) black floor! I was thinking it would be practical with a dog and child, and it was also the last room we did (we moved in when I was three months pregnant and it was in an unexpectedly awful state, and had to be done from top to bottom in a few months) and we'd run out of energy for decisions.

I think lightening the wood will help though, and I'll probably get a bright rug for the table end of the room, and maybe a mirror on the darkest wall to get a bit more light in. The walls are white and the cabinets are cream, so that helps too.

I keep going upstairs to admire my blue wall 😂

It is practical though..🙂

I think that flooring decisions should be outlawed when pregnant..I decided on honed limestone floors with white grout when I was pregnant- not such a sensible choice with 2 kids and 4 dogs 😬

Keep checking out the wall - it will give you the motivation to keep going!!