Refinishing furniture is probably my favorite hobby. I love seeing a piece of furniture and instantly having a vision of what “could be”. Unfortunately, when it came to this piece of furniture in particular, I could quite “see the potential” right away. Recently, we inherited an old kitchen island that belonged to Cody’s great-grandmother. Now, I have been telling Cody for a while not that I was wanting to put some kind of island in our kitchen, but he didn’t really like the idea and I couldn’t ever find one that I just absolutely loved, that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. We were cleaning out his great-grandmothers home one weekend and Cody’s mom mentioned that if we wanted to, we could have the kitchen island that was in the home. I of course jumped on the opportunity even though I couldn’t really see the potential (yet). We brought it home and put it in our kitchen to see how it looked. It actually fit quite perfectly! It wasn’t too big or too small. The only issue was that I didn’t really like how dark it was. I decided that I was going to find a way to whitewash the kitchen island, I just needed to figure out how to do it!
Photos do not do it justice.
This has been probably the “hardest” project I have ever done. An actual labor of love, lol. I didn’t really have a plan at first other than I needed to make it lighter. But, how? I didn’t want to paint over something that had been in Cody’s family for generations, that his great-grandmother and great-uncle had built themselves so many years ago. However, I also wanted to like the piece enough to want to keep it in our home. I was in a pickle.
This has been probably the hardest project I have ever done. An actual labor of love…
I searched high and low on Pinterest for ideas on how to lighten this wood. I actually tried 4 different techniques mainly because THIS IS THE MOST STUBBORN WOOD I HAVE EVERY DEALT WITH. There, I said it! The wood that this island was made of was no joke. It was some kind of redwood, and to be honest, I hate red colored wood, lol. Don’t ask me why, I just do!
So now for the (not so) fun part! I will show y’all everything I did to give this kitchen island a face-lift. Now, I am not saying that for your piece of furniture that you need to take all these steps, it honesty depends on the type of wood you are working with. Since mine was so dark, so red, and so stubborn I really do believe all of these steps helped. Alright, here we go…
Cleaning
My mother-in-law recommended I buy some Murphy’s Oil-Wood Soap to clean the wood first. This is a necessity, especially since the piece is so old. I bought some and followed the directions on the bottle.
Stripping
I didn’t know if the dark brown color on the island was a stain, or a paint, or if it was just a really dark wood. I went ahead and decided to try and strip the wood to see what would happen. Honestly, the only thing that happened was frustration and a mess, lol. It did help remove some of the darkness, but nothing like I was seeing in other tutorials. That told me that the wood was not stained or painted, but the darkness was basically just from age and probably grease, and heat. If your piece of wood is actually stained or painted though, this step should work wonderfully for you!
This part sucked y’all. But maybe your experience will be better! All the blogs I read said to buy CitriStrip Stripping Gel. I have never used any kind of stripper before, so I went with this. For this step, all the materials you will need are:
Rubber Gloves
Mask
Hand Scraper
Cheap paintbrush (the wider the better-covers more area)
Bowl or bucket
I read that you should use the paintbrush and apply the gel in a thick layer on the wood, so that is what I did. I ended up using the whole bottle for the island, going back over places that I felt needed to be thicker. The issue for me eventually was that I was dealing with so many crevices, that when it was time to remove the stripper that’s where it got tricky.
Depending on your wood, you could wait 20 minutes, or you could wait a few hours before removing it. I ended up letting it sit overnight since, in my eyes, nothing was happening. When I came back to remove the stripper some had dried and make a white film type texture on the wood and then some parts were still just as wet as the day before.
Use the scraping tool and go WITH the grain of the wood to remove the layer of gel. Don’t be gentle! My arm was really sore after this step, lol. Use the wire brush to get in all the crevices where the scraper doesn’t fit. I even ended up using a flat head screwdriver to really get in those deep crevices and remove all the gel.
Ideally, doing this will reveal to you a fresh wood with all paint or stain removed. For me, it just removed a thin layer of grease, or whatever that dark color was caused by and revealed that I was dealing with a red wood, that was very stubborn.
Sanding
Really guys, this step really isn’t that hard, I think the piece of furniture I had is what made it so difficult for me. After the gel was removed, I didn’t see the difference I wanted, so I began sanding. The materials needed for this part are:
Course grit sandpaper
Mask
Safety glasses
Dry paint brush
If you have never sanded before, always know that you need to go with the grain of the wood. You want to push down pretty hard, but not too hard in one spot for too long because then you can create a divot. Prepare to be a little sore after (unless you’re in shape, which I am definitely not, lol)
I sanded down for probably 2 or 3 days. Just TRYING to get to some layer of wood where the red tint was less prominent. I got to a pretty natural wood color, with still hints of red.
So, I knew I was in for a long ride once I got here. I was going to have to try different techniques to try and get everything to match.
Bleaching
I started looking at alternative methods to try to neutralize the redness. I came upon the bleaching method. I saw that you could use normal household bleach and apply it to the wood and it would lighten it. Made sense to me! The materials for this step are:
Clorox Bleach
White rag or cut up t-shirt
Bowl or bucket you don’t mind bleaching
Water
White vinegar
Sponge
This step is actually very simple. Dip the rag into the bleach and coat the wood with a thin layer, trying not to leave any standing puddles. Watch for this in the corners mostly. I let the bleach dry overnight and then applied another coat. You could probably just wait a couple hours, but I wanted to see how the wood would react over time. It turned out that I really didn’t see any difference in it until the next day, so my wood just took that long to process.
This did lighten the wood up ever so slightly, again- it all depends on the type of wood you are working with. I ended up doing 3 layers of the bleaching and this definitely helped remove some of the red tint and bring it to a more neutral color.
To stop the bleach from processing and eating at the wood, this next step is VERY IMPORTANT. Mix in a bowl about 50/50 water and white vinegar. Use the sponge to soak up the mixture and ring it out, go over the wood with the wash and make sure you do not over saturate it. This will neutralize the bleaching effect and stop it from processing. Let it dry completely.
If you get the color you have be longing for after this step, YAY! You are ready to seat it! If not, keep following along (hooray!) to get a whitewashed effect on your wood.
Whitewash/Pickling
Ah finally, I can see the silver lining! I was starting to finally get somewhere on this project and things started looking up! I did a little research on different types of white-wash products that were out there. I decided to go with the Minwax White Wash Pickling Stain. I wanted to use something that would seep into the wood and not just coat it, like a paint. For this step, you will need:
Minwax White Wash Pickling Stain
Towel or rags
With the paint sponge, you want to dip it LIGHTLY into the can of stain and coat a thin layer on to the wood. Make sure none puddles up, it will be darker in that one spot if so. The can instructs to wait 3 minutes before wiping off the stain. I did that, and then I would let each coat sit over night before adding another.
Right photo: Comparison of 2 coats vs. 1 coat. The center of the door is only 1 coat, while the border is after applying the second coat.
When it came time for coat #2, I did the same steps, and let it sit for 3 minutes. The second coat definitely started to show up a little better, but it wasn’t quite enough for me.
On my 3rd and final coat, I did not let the stain sit long at all. I would coat one part of the wood. Then, almost immediately go back with the towel to wipe it off. The 3rd coat made the most difference and did not need an entire 3 minutes to sit. In fact, in some parts I think I let it sit too long, when I really wiped it off as fast as I could.
Remember to always wipe the stain off WITH the grain, do not go against it as the stain will leave marks that are unappealing. There are some areas on the island, near the bottom where I had to wipe side to side vs. up and down & you can definitely tell. However, not everything can be perfect! If you reached the color you were hoping for, congrats! If you are anything like me, hang in there, we are almost done!
Wood Stain
Now, this step you may not even need to do. We brought the island inside and looked around at it and we liked it, but it just didn’t really mesh well with our other wood pieces in the house. So we came up with the idea of sanding a little of the white off, and creating a more distressed look, and then staining it all the same color as the stain we have on our kitchen table (which was also a DIY). If you choose to do this step you will need:
Wood Stain (I used Minwax Special Walnut, which is what all my other projects are stained)
Rag or old sock (I always just use an old sock, or 2 Cody won’t miss)
Lightly dip the rag (or sock) into the stain, you don’t want to soak it. Gently, begin wiping the stain on the wood going with the grain, try to smooth it out so there are no puddles or bubbles forming. You want to let the stain sit at least 2 hours before applying another coat. I of course, always just let it sit overnight and apply a second coat (if needed) the next day. I went ahead and applied 2 coats of stain to the island, everywhere but the top. Once you get the desired color, you are good to go! FINALLY, FINALLY WE ARE DONE! (with the color)
Finishing Wax
After staining or painting your furniture, you always need to add either a finishing wax or a polyurethane to seal and protect the wood. I went with the Minwax Finishing Paste in the color “Natural”. I have never used this wax before, but I saw really good reviews on it so I wanted to give it a try. This is more of a polish than a wax like you would use for chalk paint. The products I used for this step are:
Mixwax Finishing Paste – Natural
Use the brush to swirl around in the can and get a nice coating, it may look like you aren’t getting anything on the brush, but you are. Add a thin layer of the wax/polish on the wood and make sure not to leave any buildup. Try not to touch with your fingers, or if you do go back over with the brush to even it out. Leave the wax on overnight to allow it to dry. And ta-da! DONE! We finally have a kitchen island that we not only, love, but worked so hard on. I told y’all that was a LABOR of love.
Here are some pictures of the final product!
Have you tried any of these steps before? Did my tips help you? Let me know in the comments, also tag me in your projects on Instagram (@wifewithabudget)! I love seeing what others come up with!
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