A Simple Whitewashing Tutorial

Hi friends! I am so happy to share a new update on my son’s pirate room.

After I installed my plank wall I was left with the decision to paint or not.

My husbands vote was to stain the wood.

But I wanted to paint the wood white.
Hmmm…what to do?

I thought maybe a good compromise would be to whitewash.

I had never whitewashed anything before.

I did a little research and then just went for it.

I like the finished look and I think you will too.

First, let me remind you what the bare wood wall looked like…

and with the whitewashed completed…

Pretty neat, huh?
It’s a subtle look and
I like how you can still see the texture of the wood.

The process is really easy.
Basically it’s just playing around with some white paint and water. 🙂

Now, the secret recipe to make your own whitewashing paint is:

-2 parts white latex paint
to
-1 part water

Yep, it’s that easy folks.

I placed that mixture in each zoo pal plate (hey, use what you got right?).
I wanted a whitewashed color but with a gentle hint of blue/grey
so I brought out a few extra colors to mix with the white.

I tried my mixes out on an extra plank board. One color was a major flop!

The navy was way to dark of blue. Yikes!
I liked the original white and the baby blue mixture.
Decisions, decisions.

Finally I decided to just add a drop of blue into my mixture.
When I say a drop people, I mean literally… a drop.

Once you have your paint mixed it’s painting time.
I simply dipped my brush into the paint and wiped most of it off.
Then I applied the paint in the opposite direction of the grain.
This way your paint will settle on the higher points
and not the grooves (allowing the grain of the wood to be seen).