Re: White chalky paint

[Frank Ketchum]

Hi there,

> > I havent got a clue about wood and how to do things with it. > But me and my girlfriend have seen a lovely white wooden cupbouard. > It has a kind of antique look to it and the woman seling it said it had a > white patena > on it. W have allready bought three cupboards (brown wood) and were > wondering > if we could give them this antique white look. > > Does anybody out there know how to do this and what we would need to do it. > > kindest regards. >

I know Home Depot sells something in their paint department that gives an "antique" look when it dries (sorry I can't remember what it's called). It kind of crackles as it dries. I havn't used it but I've seen it.

Good luck Frank

[Ernie Jurick]

There are a lot of "faux" (pronounced "foe") finishes out there now, and there are a lot of antiquing kits for doing just what you're talking about. It's fairly easy to do. Go to a local library or bookstore and look at books on furniture refinishing or furniture painting, find the effect you like, and follow the instructions.

-- Ernie

[Andy Dingley]

There are too many possibles for us to advise without seeing a picture. Could you post a picture to alt.binaries.pictures.furniture ?

White paint finishes are modern - old paints would _always_ discolour and yellow somewhat. A nice rustic finish that's easy to give a patina to is to use milk paint, buff it gently with a coarse cloth to apply some "age" and then finish it with oil and wax. It won't work convincingly for white those.

How this piece woudl be done commercially is to use a whit eemulsion paint (as you'd use for walls) and then either mix with it, or apply over the top a coat of an acrylic glaze. This glaze is available as very expensive tiny quantities from decorator shops, or cheaply by the gallon from good paint shops. I suggest you find a book on paint effects by Jocasta Innes or Annie Sloane, and take it from there.

You could use an old traditional white paint for stonework, such as distemper, but this is very fragile and would need oiling to give it any strength at all. Even then, I don't think it would last.

Another possibility is liming wax. This needs an unfinished hardwood like ash, beech or oak. You brush it with a bronze wire bruch to open up the grain, apply the white-coloured liming wax, then give an overcoat of clear wax.