{whitewash renewal}...

This is the finished result. 

 Scroll to the last photo and you will

see it's quite a change, especially

when you consider it's not solid wood. It's original finish was veneer.

I did 3 separate color coats, plus a chalky primer to help hold to the painted surface underneath.

The base layer was the bluish gray.

Then I did a light whitewash with the white.

It was pretty.  But I wanted something that looked old, worn, and more like wood. 

So I went back to the paint store and got a really dark black brown paint.

I then applied it using a dry brush method.  Following quickly by wiping it off with a damp rag to soften and remove most of the dark color.

 I didn't really know what I was doing but I like how it came out.  I have other pieces I want to whitewash so I used this piece to experiment on to develop a technique to use on the other real wood pieces.

The technique worked out well but I may want to make the brown paint either the first or second coat rather

than the last coat.

Sorry, I don't have any photos of the steps. I had to work very quickly. With 0% humidity and a temp of about 90 degrees the paint was drying within seconds not hours. This may actually have been beneficial.

Or, I simply adapted my method because of the weather conditions.

Either way it was painted, dry, cleaned up and done in no more than 2 or 3 hours.

 

 I may yet add another very light coat of the white to this piece.

But for now I really like how it came out.

Yep ~ this is the before.  It was giving to me, free about 20 years ago.

I painted over the really ugly veneer and I was never quite sure how well

that paint job would last.  But it held up and I expect the new paint job will too.

It was always a good storage piece.  But never really a pretty looking piece.

But now I think it is.  I'm really glad I kept it.