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Lime washing a dining table

Hi everyone

I am after some help to lime wash my dining table to create a more rustic look. Could anyone help me? I have attached a photo. Would I need to stain the wood before attempting to lime wash? As I don’t want the red colour of the wood to come through.
Thank you

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Jason

@elliza88,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. We're so pleased to have you join us and look forward to reading about all your projects and plans for around the house and garden. We have loads of clever and creative members so we're sure you will get plenty of helpful information, advice and inspiration.

Apologies for the delay, but I will ask our resident Bunnings D.I.Y. expert @MitchellMc to assist with your lime washing project when he is back on the site tomorrow. In the meantime, let me tag some other helpful members who might like to share their thoughts on how they would tackle this project: @Tara86, @Peggers, @TedBear, @prettyliving, @sjloves

Thanks,

Jason

elliza88

Thank you so much Jason. I’m excited to start! I will attach a photo of what I would like the end result to be similar to. Any ideas would be so very helpful.
Elliza

prettyliving

Hi @elliza88

I did my dining table like this a couple of years ago.. the process I used was sanding it first and then I used lining white on it followed by a clear coat.

I did a couple of coats of liming white (the more coats the lighter the end result will be).

sjloves

I would definitely use a liming wash also but be careful as there is a liming white wash and a stain and varnish. You want the stain and varnish liming white as it's a milky clear you can build up depending on your desired look.

The white wash is quite dense in white and won't give you a cool ash tone.

Screenshot_20210610-101339_Samsung Internet.jpg

redracer01

Hello @elliza88

Welcome to the Bunnings workshop community. We recently had a member lime wash their brand new work table and it came up beautifully. New desk built in lock down . That was a new desk of course, but I wanted to show you that what you have in your mind is achievable. First we need to find out how deep the finish is on your current table. Now you need some sand paper preferably with a grit number of 180, we are going to test a hidden part of your table on the assumption that the manufacturer painted the bottom of your table as well. Using the sand paper start sanding a small portion under your table and see if you can get to the light timber part with all the coating sanded away. If you manage to get to the exposed timber area in a short time then it is safe to conclude that the top coating of the table top can be sanded away as well. Since you don't want any of the old stain to be seen once you place the lime wash on you will have to give the table a thorough sand from top to bottom. You can manually sand it, but please be sure to use a sanding block so that you will get a uniform finish on the top. The other option is to purchase an affordable orbital sander like the Ryobi 240W 1 / 4 Sheet Sander. This corded sander is versatile and can accept any type of sandpaper and does not need to be velcro backed either. Allowing you to use ordinary sand paper without spending too much on it. In this instance I recommend corded as it is a mid-sized project and you might run out of battery power should you use a cordless unit. As we are stripping the table of all its coating and going back to bare timber its important to get all of it off.

Things to consider before starting :

Do you have an area where to sand it? This will generate a lot of dust and I don't recommend doing it inside the house.

Will the table be safe from the weather while you are sanding it? Bare timber + rain not good.

A proper dust mask and some protective eye gear will be needed while doing the sanding.

An enclosed space when its time to paint it. Any dust, debris that goes with the wind will fall on your table and ruin the finish.

Once fully sanded and you are down to bare timber, give the table a good wipe down. I recommend using a tack cloth as a final wipe down for the table to make sure you get all the dust off the table. You can also use your vacum cleaner with the soft brush attachment. I recommend using a high quality brush when applying the lime wash paint to give you a superior finish. Please make sure to give the first coat an appropriate amount of time to dry off. Placing a second coat too early will damage the finish and you will have to start all over again. I'm quite sure there are other methods for lime wash methods, but this is the one I've used for my personal projects in the past. I hope my tips help and please keep us updated with your project, we look forward to your diy journey!

Cheers,

Red

Screenshot_2021-05-31 Feast Watson 1L Liming White.png Screenshot 2021-06-06 at 20-08-28 UNi-PRO 18 x 36 Painters Tack Cloth.png Screenshot 2021-06-10 at 10-03-55 Ryobi 240W 1 4 Sheet Sander.png

redracer01

Hello @elliza88

I'm in agreement with @sjloves if you are after a lighter finish and not full on Liming white then use Liming white stain and varnish to build up to the finish you want.

Red

elliza88

@prettyliving

Thank you so much do you have a photo of the finished product? X

elliza88

Thank you!
Do you don’t think I will need to stain the wood after sanding and prior to lime washing?

StevieB

Welcome @elliza88, and thanks for sharing your project with us. I absolutely love your furniture and styling and look forward to following along with this project.

Great to see that you've already received terrific advice from our members. Let me tag @redracer01 to see if he can share any extra thoughts. As Jason mentioned, @MitchellMc will be back on the site tomorrow and will be more than happy to help further.

Please keep us updated along the way as I'm sure many, like me, would love to see the end result.

Stevie

prettyliving

This is mine, I wanted it quite light though so I did a couple of coats to get it this way.

redracer01

Hello @elliza88

I don't think staining will be necessary as you mentioned you did not want the current finish to push through the lime white finish. Using a lime white stain and varnish it should produce the effect you were looking for. I understand that you may have some hesitancy about this project. One of the things you can do is to test it on one of the table legs. If the finish is not satisfactory then you can start thinking of doing different techniques. Perhaps a lighter sand? Just be aware that some tables specialty those from overseas websites use a Liming wax and not a Liming paint. Thus getting a totally different effect on the finish of their table.

Cheers,

Red

elliza88

Wow that’s amazing! What colour was it originally?

elliza88

Thank you that’s very helpful. How do I know when how much sanding is enough?

redracer01

Hello @elliza88

You will know you've reached bare timber when the stain on your timber is no longer visible. Like I mentioned if you test in a hidden spot you will know when to stop as it will be bare timber that you will see.

Cheers,

Red

elliza88

Thanks Red I will give it a go. I did attempt to bleach a small section however nothing happened. Will try sanding over the weekend. Could it be possible the colour of the table is natural and not a stain? Sorry silly question perhaps!

redracer01

Hello @elliza88

You can ask anything you like there are no silly questions, we are here to help. Bleaching is only effective to deep stained timber. Your correct when you say what if the timber colour travels all the way down like Tassie oak. The only way to find out is to sand it. You could try some of the waxes at the store and see what kind of effect you get. Just remember that if you use it on a certain spot and decide not to go with it you will have to sand it off. If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers

Red

MitchellMc

Hi @elliza88,

I just wanted to add that unless you start with pine or something of a lighter shade, the colour of the timber will show through unless you lay a completely opaque coating. However, I don't think this is necessarily a negative thing. I understand you don't want the colour to show through, though you might be happier than you think with the finish. I believe you'll get an amazing result with the liming white being offset by the darker timber tones. You'll need to decide during the process when you are happy with the coverage of the timber whilst still retaining some of its natural beauty.

Keep us updated and reach out if you have any more questions.

Mitchell

elliza88

Yes I agree. It will be interesting to see the colour once I begin sanding. Who knows I could like the colour once sanded back a little and not have to paint at all (fingers crossed) but doubt it 🙂

elliza88

Hello again

If I end up liking the shade after I sand it.. what type of sealer should I use on the table to prevent the red colour coming back? The lime wash stain?
thanks 🙂

StevieB

Hi @elliza88,

@MitchellMc will be happy to help when he's back on the site tomorrow. Let me also tag @EricL to see if he can share any thoughts.

Stevie

EricL

Hello @elliza88,

I'm glad that you've proceeded with your project. In this instance I recommend to test the lime wash stain to see what effect it might have on the raw timber. When raw unprotected timber gets wet it turns dark because of the water entering the pores of the timber. Because lime wash is a stain it might darken the raw part that you've sanded. Test one coat to see the effect on that area, if turns dark you might have to use a sealing wax instead.

A sealing wax creates a barrier coat on top of the timber and does not travel down in to the pores. It does however create a shine on the timber, depending on the wax you use this too will have a particular effect to the finish of the sanded area of the table. Please note that if you choose to use something totally different, you will need to sand off the area where you tested the other products. Please let us know once you've tested these products on your table. Looking forward to seeing the results.

Eric

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