Orange pine table

Minkeymaximus · 4 Apr 2013

Hi everyone,

I have a pine dining table which has white legs in a whitewashed finish. The top of the table seems to be waxed rather than any varnish (it's not at all shiny). I would like to get rid of the orange hue and turn it lighter to look like a driftwood effect/colour.

I have googled and googled but all the advice seems confusing as to what to use and how to do it. I will try to post a photo of the colour I am after. I don't know whether to use white wood stain, lime wash, soda crystals, bleach and if to sand or not and. If so with an electric sander or by hand.

I want to try before resorting to buying a new table because the size is perfect for our dining room. You can buy 'whitewashed' tables but they're very expensive.

Any advice?

Thanks
(Wood Novice)

Minkeymaximus · 4 Apr 2013

This isn't my table but pretty similar (my table photo is too large to upload)

mrpercysnodgrass · 5 Apr 2013

Hi Minkeymaximus,
If your table has a wax finish, you will be able to take this off with some white spirit and wire wool and if you are lucky it will take off the orange colour at the same time. If your finish does not come off with white spirit, you will have to either use a paint stripper and wire wool, which again if you are lucky will take out the orange at the same time. Or you can sand the finish off, by hand or an orbital sander.
If after this, your orange colour is still in the timber you will have to use oxalic acid to bleach it out. You can buy oxalic in crystal form or ready mixed in a bottle, I think Liberon sell it as 'wood bleacher'. It may take several applications to bleach out all of the colour.
When you are ready to apply your 'whitewashed' look, there are quite a few ways to achieve the desired effect but the easiest and cheapest way is to use white emulsion paint. Get yourself several rags ( old towels make good rags for this ) Slosh your white emulsion all over the top and then take off the excess with your rags. you can make the effect as even or uneven as you like. If you don't like what you have created you can wash it off quickly with a damp rag and start again. When you are satisfied with the look you can then seal it with a finish, varnish or oil would be best. I would not recommend a wax finish for a dining table, but you can wax over a varnish or oil finish once it has dried.

Minkeymaximus · 5 Apr 2013

Oh thank you so much for that advice. Sounds really doable from your description. I will have a go next week and post a result photo if I can. Can't wait to try now, thanks again.