Bright and Breezy Neutral Makeover (yes, I painted in white!)

It's not often I paint in neutrals, let alone white! But sometimes a clean and fresh vibe can be exactly what a piece requires.

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Product list:

Pristine Clean

White BOSS

Salt Water Silk Mineral Paint

Sand Castle Silk Mineral Paint

Black Sands Silk Mineral Paint

Extra Coat Top Coat

Scarlet Brush

Synthetic Brush

Blue Applicator Sponge

Copper Gilding Wax

Bronze Gilding Wax

Here's how the piece started out. I love this style of furniture and have soft spot for oak.

I started out cleaning with Pristine Clean which is the granulated cleaning product from Dixie Belle for the Silk Mineral Paint line. I decant some Pristine Clean into a bucket with warm water and use a microfibre cloth to clean the piece all over including inside and underneath. I then rinsed with clean, warm water to remove any cleaning product residue. 

Next I used my electric sander to scuff sand the main body of the piece. I removed the existing varnish completely on the top of the cabinet and the legs as I knew I wanted to keep those parts unpainted. 

I used the detailer attachment on my electric sander for most of it then for the really detailed parts, an old sanding sheet wrapped around a sanding block. This was particularly useful on the barley twist legs.

Next I applied two coats of BOSS in white with a synthetic brush. BOSS is Dixie Belle's stain blocking primer and comes in grey and clear as well as white. Because I'm using a white colour paint, I chose the white primer. Silk does have a stain blocking primer built in to the paint and it is equivalent to using one coat of BOSS. However, I know oak can have bleed through issues so as a precaution I used BOSS. Bleed through happens when the tannins from the wood leak through into the paint finish. Bleed through is far more obvious in lighter shades and can also occur when applying your top coat. I lightly sanded between coats of BOSS to remove unwanted texture. 

BOSS needs to dry for 24 hours before applying paint. This is to ensure that it has properly 'locked' the bleed through into its formula. If you apply your paint too soon, this can reactivate the BOSS and cause the primer to fail and bleed through to occur. I (patiently) waited for the 24 hours then applied two coats of Salt Water in Silk with the Scarlet Brush.

I also treated the interior of the cabinet to a lick of paint as it was a bit worse for wear. I chose the colour Black Sands as a contrast against the white exterior and applied two coats with the Scarlet Brush. 

I made a wash (watered down paint) from Sand Castle to apply over the oak parts I wanted to keep a wood finish on. Silk Mineral Paint always has best results without water as this can reduce the performance of the stain blocking and top coat properties. However, as I used this as a wash, I will be ensuring a top coat is applied over the wash. 

This is the result (before sealing) of the wash of paint applied over the oak top. It's really subtle and gives a sun bleached effect whilst retaining the gorgeous oak grain. 

This is Extra Coat which is the top coat for the Silk line of paint. The paint on it's own is very tough and durable but this product is for high traffic areas such as table tops which may get a lot of use. As previously mentioned, I had watered down the colour Sand Castle to get a wash so the integrity of the paint had been compromised and therefore needed extra protection. 

I applied the Extra Coat with a blue applicator sponge in two thin coats. It does dry fairly quickly so don't be tempted to pass over an area once it's been applied. Thin passes are better than thick ones - if you miss an area, catch that on your next pass rather than trying to go back and touch up when it's still wet. 

I used a combination of Copper and Bronze Gilding Waxes with an artists brush on the original handles to warm them up. I blended the two colours together for a more authentic and organic look in keeping with the rest of the piece. 

Below is the finished piece along with a couple pf close ups! Hope you've enjoyed this blog post and feel inspired to use white (if you don't already!)

Con x