What is whitewashing?

Whitewashing is a form of painting or coating that is commonly used to enhance and decorate the appearance of wood, brick, and stone surfaces. It is a mixture of water and white paint that produces a semi-translucent coating with a soft hue. Whitewashing techniques have been used since ancient times and it has become increasingly popular.

It's commonly used on furniture, home exteriors, fireplaces, and more!

What paint works best?

I prefer to use flat finish paints and chalk paint. I have even used regular flat-finish wall paint. You could do this technique with any color, but white is the most popular.

It's a great way to achieve a cottage, farmhouse, coastal, or vintage look.

It's a fabulous way to change the look of home accessories that may be too gold and dated with their current coloring. It;'s such a simple DIY project.

How-To Whitewash

1. Clean your piece of grime and dust. A paintbrush can be sued to dust ornate pieces.
2. Place a small amount of white paint in a plastic cup.
3. Add small amounts of water to thin your paint to the consistency of milk.
4. Brush the paint on the piece. Let the paint sit for about a minute on the decor.
5. Take your paper towel and wipe the paint off in the same direction. You can also blot the paint.
6. Depending on how thin your paint was when you started, you may do more than one coat.
7. I only did one coat on each set of bookends.
8. Let the piece dry thoroughly.
9. Take the bookends outside and spray several coats of spray sealer on the bookends. This is a must to keep your finish from wearing off. You've thinned the paint considerably, so it needs to be sealed to protect it from scratching off easily.
10. Let the sealer dry completely and style in your home!

Bookend #1

Thin your white paint with a little water to the consistency of milk. It will be very runny when you paint with it.

These bookends are pretty great, but a little too old-world for my tastes. Brush your thinned paint liberally over the bookends.

Let it sit briefly for about a minute.

With a Bounty paper towel, wipe the paint off with light pressure. The paint will rest in the crevices. You can wipe more in certain areas if you'd like more gold to shine through.

Now they have a more vintage appearance. Be sure to seal them. You'll see more on that below with the 2nd set of bookends.

This is a little nook in the staircase off the kitchen. The little chest was actually a very old post where we used a basic IKEA piece that we did a little makeover. I store napkins in it. Yes, I have quite the napkin collection. I have a weakness.

Bookend #2

These bookends are a very old thrift store find. I don't even remember the original color. Back when Ashlyn was single digits (now 24!!), we sprayed them pink to go with her room. We went thrifting together a bought a few things for her new desk area that we were decorating.

I wanted to give these bookends a similar look to the ones above.

I started by spray painting them gold. The exact gold is linked above in the supply list. It is my favorite gold spray paint.

This spray paint look does not have to be perfect. I sprayed two coats. Be sure to turn the piece upside down to get it sprayed from all angles. You just want to cover all the pink!

Brush your watered-down paint all over the piece and let it sit for about a minute.

If you have a larger piece, work in small sections.

Instead of rubbing the paint off, I blotted with a Bounty towel. I love the texture it gives the bookend.

Let your bookends DRY thoroughly! No wet paint…..take them outside and spray them with several coats of a matte sealer.

Turn it upside down to get it from all angles.

Please do NOT skip the sealer step.

You have thinned your paint so it is a bit more fragile. To prevent it from scratching off, sealing will protect it and lock it in place.

I Love how these turned out.

Whitewashing is a fabulous way to quickly and cheaply give older, dated home decor a fresh look!

The above candlesticks received the same whitewashing treatment. Sadly, I don't have a before of them. I did the project many years ago.