Whitewashing Knotty Pine

[email protected] wrote:
> We have a house at the beach and EVERY wall, ceiling, door and all
> cabinets are knotty pine! The whole house has already been finshed by
> the previous owner. However it is terribly dark and we need an easy
> solution to lighten it up without sanding the whole house! I heard you
> can whitewash and still get some of the wood grain showing through, but
> can it be done with finish already on the walls? Any suggestions or
> help would be much appreciated!

If it's already finished you'll be doing some sanding. If you want the
wood grain to show through you'll be sanding (or stripping, or more
likely both) a LOT. Before painting you'll want to scuff it up at the
very least so the paint will stick well. How dark? Does it look like
it's been stained?

JP

Jay Pique wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
> > We have a house at the beach and EVERY wall, ceiling, door and all
> > cabinets are knotty pine! The whole house has already been finshed by
> > the previous owner. However it is terribly dark and we need an easy
> > solution to lighten it up without sanding the whole house! I heard you
> > can whitewash and still get some of the wood grain showing through, but
> > can it be done with finish already on the walls? Any suggestions or
> > help would be much appreciated!
>
> If it's already finished you'll be doing some sanding. If you want the
> wood grain to show through you'll be sanding (or stripping, or more
> likely both) a LOT. Before painting you'll want to scuff it up at the
> very least so the paint will stick well. How dark? Does it look like
> it's been stained?
>
> JP

Yes it has been stained. We tried sanding a wall... we ended up
sanding a 2ft by 5ft sections as a 'test', it took forever and broke
one sander! The house is well over 50 years old and I am sure the
stain is as well! I was hoping we could lighten it up without killing
ourselves doing it! Drywall is looking better and better. Thanks for
the insight!