The "Wash" Look on New Wood
- Caroline Sturman
- Jun 18, 2016
- 3 min read
Background: My sister and I discovered these cool pallets at Michael’s and both of us wanted one to use as a shelf. I wasn’t 100% sure which room I was going to put the piece in so I wasn’t ready to work on mine; however, my sister knew she’d like hers to be rustic grey.
Why so tricky? The wood didn’t take the stain very well on one board that was on the front. The red in the mahogany came out a lot more than it did for the other pieces so when I applied the AS Paris Grey, it looked really funky. I had to replace the funky board with a piece from the backside that looked pretty good. There was a slight casualty...as you can see, the board I removed from the front ended up cracking some. Made it all the more rustic, I suppose.
Inspiration? So I just love this lady’s blog and her YouTube videos. She’s good at what she does and she’s a little quirky which I like. Here’s her YouTube video on getting the “wash” look.
Instructions:
1. Stain. The wood was bare (or naked) meaning it didn’t have any products on it. I picked out a red mahogany stain and went to work!* There’s nothing too tricky about staining, but I do stain a small section and then wipe over it with a rag to remove an excess stain. If you want a darker stain, you can leave the stain on for a little longer before wiping but you 100% need to wipe off the excess stain before it dries completely.
2. Mix Paint with Water. So this step will take some experimenting. I poured a small amount of AS Paris Grey (watered-down paint will go a lot further than you think) and then added some water. I probably started out with 1 part water 2 parts paint. I used the back boards as my “test” areas and added more paint or water before each “test” board to figure out which one I liked better.** And yes, I did get my sister's opinion on which ratio of stain to paint she liked best.
3. Paint & Wipe. For the actual painting process, I had a clean rag handy. I painted a full board and then waited about 10-20 seconds before wiping the section with my rag. It's important to wipe in the direction of the wood grain. What’s great about trying to get the wash look is that the process is pretty forgiving. Did not enough paint stick to the wood? Repaint and wait a little longer before wiping. Did too much paint stick to the wood? Just get a damp rag and rub (in the direction of the wood grain) until enough comes off.
4. Clear Wax. I used a clean rag to apply the wax but a waxing brush and rag combo will work as well. Just remember to wipe off any excess wax.
5. Dark Wax. I can’t remember if I used dark wax on this piece or not but it wouldn’t surprise me either way. If the piece isn’t as dark as you want it to be and the paint has already dried completely, your next best option would be to apply some dark wax over the clear wax.
And that’s it! I feel like these steps can be modified to achieve an old barnwood look as well.
* In hindsight, I would’ve chosen a dark walnut for the stain to give more brown tones rather than red. Also, in case you didn’t know this (I sure didn’t), you clean your brush with mineral spirits when you’re done. Don’t let your brush dry or try to clean it with soap and water. It. Will. Not. Work.
**If there isn’t an area on the board where you can do a test, then you can use a scrap piece of board. You’ll just have to stain it with red mahogany first to get the most real version.
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