I am repainting the interior of a 30 year old house, part of which is paneled with real wood (6″ boards 1/4″ thick). They are stained a dark brown and I would like to restain them to a lighter color. MinWax makes a water based stain called “White wash pickling stain”. Does anyone have experience with this product? Will it lighten the dark wood? Do I need to do any prep work? (The wood is quite soft, shaggy, and I suspect porous).
Thanx for any help you can give
henry
Replies
Trying to get the wood to look lighter is going to be an exercise in aggravation and futility.
You will be a lot more satisfied if you replace the existing wood with new and stain to your liking.
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professional build the Titanic.
I don't think it would be easy. The only way that would work is if you sand the wood smooth and start over. If it's pretty shaggy, you will have to usae stripper and a wire brush on the areas that wont sand. I would paint it myself. If you want to have something different then get some good books on decorative painting and see if there are some techniques you can use. Some of the paint jobs are very nice, like ragging, combing, color wash, faux wood grain etc.
You can stain light wood darker but dark to light is like making me look young again.
Sanding it deeply is your best method other than coating with solid colour stain.
Excellence is its own reward!
1/4" thick, sanding deeply, might not be an option...Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professional build the Titanic.
"Sanding it deeply is your best method other than coating with solid colour stain".
Thanx for the response piffin. Re the solid color stain, would that be available in light colors (we are trying for a "white wash" effect). Would it cover the existing dark color? Is it only available as an oil or is there a water based version?
thanx, henry
Available in colours all the way up to white.
Only wat to be sure if it will do what you want is to try it in test spots liker CA or somebody mentioned. Find inconspicuous spot where it won't be so bad if it turns out a mess and try a couple samples.
You are describing a pickling effect, I think. I believe the way to do it on a dark stain would be to try this - no gaurantees you understand if your wife ends up wanting to shoot you - sand it enough to take any surface glaze off the existing. then apply some well stirred solid colour white or light grey stain or a flat white paint. let it tack up slightly and then take a swipe at it with a bundle of cheeseclothe to let the dark slip through..
Excellence is its own reward!
henry,
The advice you've gotten so far is pretty much on the money. I'm not sure if you could do the faux graining thing tho on your paneling if it has a shaggy surface.
Here's another possibility.....maybe.....and it sounds preferable to sanding them in place.... in my mind anyway. Although it would require some careful diligence, you might be able to remove the 6" boards and run them through a surfacer/planer. Removing 1/16" should be plenty and then you'd have a worthy surface. Make certain you get all the nails out first. Use a metal detector if in doubt. Number the boards on their backsides so they get back in the same place and any custom cuts should be an okay fit yet. Make sure the planer knives are sharp and watch the grain direction when you feed them and you'll eliminate/greatly reduce the potential for chipping.
If you've also got access to a panel sander in the same or nearby shop, all the better........ after the necessary planing is done, of course.
You could then color and finish before reinstalling which would be easier....me thinks.
Edit - Okay, five minutes under the showerhead and the brain sparked to life at last. Removing the stuff is contingent upon it not being glued in place. And it occurs to me that at 1/4", either the stuff is glued to a substrate and sold that way in sheets or if it's t&g or shiplap, anything more than 1/32" removal would be a very dubious attempt at salvage.
To make matters worse, I'll offer another notion. You say that this paneling is stained, but it might not be. It might be that it's shot with a colored film type finish which would *simply* strip off leaving you with a workable surface without very much sanding at all.
You could try that in an inconspicous area.
Or is it possible that the boards are actually walnut or some other naturally dark colored wood? Then stripping and bleaching with two step peroxide becomes an option, but not a very agreeable one at all. Alot of/too much...... work and material expense to do that.
Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
Edited 5/11/2003 2:55:09 PM ET by GOLDHILLER
Edited 5/11/2003 3:05:19 PM ET by GOLDHILLER
Instead of removing the wood, how about skinning over the existing paneling?