How to Whitewash Furniture

Step by step, let’s dive into how to whitewash furniture as part of this DIY cedar chest makeover.

Get more painting techniques for furniture here!

Here’s what the cedar chest looked like when we picked it up from the thrift store for only $30.

cedar chest before the makeover — BEFORE

Before we got around to whitewashing, we added legs to the cedar chest.

We also painted the body of the cedar chest.

But let’s dive into how we whitewashed the top and legs!

How to Whitewash Furniture

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Table of Contents

Supplies Used:

3×4 Vacuum Compatible SurfPrep Sander Use code RAY10 to get 10% off your order
Shop Vac
Tack Cloth
Zibra Square Brush
Antiquing Glaze
Varathane Water-Based Polyurethane
Country Chic Paint Sponge
Cathedral Taupe
Lint Free Rags
Fuji Q4 Paint Sprayer

Sand to Raw Wood

First I sanded the old finish off with my power sander.

I sanded it all down with 100 grit sandpaper first, trying to go slow and without putting much pressure on the sander so I didn’t leave any marks from the sander.

Check out the Best Sander to Remove Paint here.

sanding the top of the cedar chest with a power sander

Then I sanded with 150 grit sandpaper, and finally with 220 grit sandpaper.

For the edge detail, I used a coarse foam pad to sand the curves without changing the shape of them.

It didn’t get really close into the details, so I went back with some folded up pieces of sandpaper to get some of the stain off there.

Learn more about Best Tools for Removing Paint from Wood here.

Making the Legs Look Rustic like the Top

Then I moved onto the legs to try to get them to match the top of the cedar chest.

I wanted to go for a raw wood, whitewashed type finish, but the top of the cedar chest was really rustic and I intentionally had left some of the old dark stain in the corners.

So I needed to make the legs look the same.

I tried to recreate the look of the stain in the corners and tight spots by brushing a little bit of antiquing glaze into those areas.

brushing antiquing glaze into the nooks of the legs

It definitely looked really really rough at this point!

But after the glaze dried, I sanded the legs down, kind of like I would if there was wood stain that I needed to sand off.

Annnd they still looked rough. But I still had one last step to hopefully make them look good.

Topcoat Raw Wood

Then, I wiped a coat of my favorite water based poly on the legs and the top of the cedar chest.

Check out the Best Polyurethane for Furniture here.

The coat of topcoat acts like a really thin barrier to help keep the whitewash from soaking into the wood too fast.

But since it’s so thin, and over raw wood, it doesn’t repel the whitewash at all and the whitewash still soaks in pretty fast.

Learn more about Topcoat for Painting Furniture here.

Make Whitewash

While the topcoat dried, I mixed up a batch of whitewash.

I really like using a creamy colored paint for whitewash instead of a stark white paint.

So I used this Cathedral Taupe color from Fusion that I had on hand.

Check out The Best White Chalk Paint for Furniture here.

And I mixed a little bit of the paint with water to thin it out a lot.

pouring water into fusion mineral paint to make whitewash

You can use basically any water based paint to make a wash, Fusion is just the kind I had on hand in the right color.

Check out The Best Paint for Furniture for more information.

Brush the Whitewash On

After the topcoat was dry, I brushed the whitewash onto the legs and the top of the cedar chest.

Learn more about the Best Paint Brush for Painting Furniture

I tried to leave the whitewash in the details as much as possible to help blend the stain that was left in the details, but not cover it.

Wipe Off the Whitewash

And then I quickly wiped the whitewash back off as fast as I could.

But the Whitewash Soaked in Too Fast

The top of the cedar chest was a little bit more difficult because it was a much larger surface. But I tried to brush it on as quickly as possible, so I could wipe it off as fast as I could.

I didn’t think about it much before I started to brush the wash on, so I started on one side then moved to the other side.

If I would have been thinking before brushing it on, I would have worked along the entire back part first, brushing it on in about a 4” section from the back.

Then I would have wiped it off in that area before brushing on the next 4” section.

That way I would have been able to brush it on and then wipe it back off quicker.

So, when I wiped off the whitewash, it soaked in too fast in some areas, making it really hard to wipe off.

I tried using a baby wipe to help wipe it off, and it worked a little bit, but it looked pretty splotchy.

So I waited for it to dry all of the way, and then I sanded the whitewash away where it was too thick.

Sanding it worked really well and helped smooth out the raised grain that I had created.

Seal The Whitewash

To finish it all off, I sprayed the whole cedar chest with 3 coats of my favorite water based poly topcoat.

I love how the whitewashing on the feet and top turned out!

Just enough to keep the wood light, almost like raw wood.

Click here to see the full DIY cedar chest makeover with a brush free finish!

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How to Whitewash Furniture

Give your furniture a rustic raw wood look. Here's how to whitewash furniture.

Materials

Tools

Instructions

Sand furniture to raw wood.
Protect raw wood by applying a topcoat.
Mix paint and water to make whitewash.
Brush the whitewash on the furniture.
Wipe off the whitewash.
Seal everything with waterbased polyurethane.

Recommended Products

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How to Whitewash Furniture

How to Whitewash Furniture

Supplies Used: