First of all, water down your paint. I used semigloss white paint that I had left over from the trim. I watered it down to 2 parts water 1 part paint. I was worried that it would look too glossy because it was semigloss but it didn’t at all. Now, if you use straight paint, the above is what will happen to your wood. It will be white. Which is fine, but the character of the wood kind of gets lost.
It’s really easy to do this technique! This is all you do:
First, sand the pallet with a medium grit sand paper. You don’t want to make it smooth, you just want to remove the big splinters.
Then dip your brush in the paint again and put the brush in another cloth so it can soak up some of the paint. Now that your brush is almost dry you’re going to go back over the area that you just did. This lets the paint highlight the details.
This may be hard for the perfectionists out there, but hear me out: DO NOT do a second coat. DO NOT fix anything. Once you’re done just walk away. Because this isn’t supposed to look pristine, it’s not supposed to look perfect. It’s supposed to look weathered, and that’s exactly what it will look like if you follow my instructions.
I love my new table, and because we used found pallets and paint we had on hand, it was FREE. And I love free.
Good work, congrats girl!!
Your coffee table turned out great and it goes perfect with your space! I’ve got this linked to my whitewashing post too today, for inspiration!
thanks for the tips Alida! I just used them for a new inspiration board in my craft room!
your table is much prettier than the pinned one. I love it. Do you think your husband COULD do a tutorial for how he built it?
This Looks Great!! Do you think it will work with another color, (like light blue), and still come out without covering up all the imperfections?