How to create a weathered wood finish

I showed you the new kitchen tabletop on Friday and promised a tutorial on Monday, so it only makes sense that you're seeing this on Tuesday (punctuality is not my strong suit).

This weathered wood finish is not something I recommend for someone who isn't prepared to roll with the punches a bit. The fact is, you just don't know how it's going to work on your piece. I think you have to be prepared with a backup plan if things don't go the way you thought they would. I think that could reasonably include applying a stain or whitewash or just painting the thing if things go awry.

That was a chance I was willing to take, as the alternative either way was just repainting it.

So I did a little test patch of stripper to see what the table looked like under there. DO NOT DO THIS. Or if you do, make it the smallest possible area you can. I did mine the size of a placemat and if you look hard on the finished table, you can still see it.

Few things are as satisfying as stripped paint waiting to be scraped off.

Now that we've got all the warnings out of the way, here's what I did.

I disconnected the table top from the legs, just because it was easier to manage this project outside for the messy bits. I applied Citristrip brand stripper. This is really the only stripper I'll use as the other stuff is just way too fumy and scary to me. But you still have to be careful with this citrus stuff. I got some on my sleeve and then pushed my sleeves up. Later on I felt this horrible burning on my arm and it turns out I gave myself a pretty good chemical burn (it's still a big scab on my arm). So be careful (and there's yet another warning).

Also, it's probably not the best idea to try to use stripper in the sun, but it worked pretty well. I actually applied it twice: Once to get the paint off and a second time to remove the rest of the stain that remained on the original piece.

After stripping it, I cleaning everything off with mineral spirits. I don't really recommend that because I think it made the table too greasy. Just spend the dough to buy the stripper wash.

Then I sanded with 220-grit sandpaper. I had to be really careful with this step because my table is covered in a maple veneer that is very thin. Too much sanding and I'd go right through the veneer and then you've pretty much ruined the table, I think. This was a really light sanding, just to smooth things out a bit and get off the last vestiges of stain. In retrospect, I think I would have been better off sanding with a coarser grit because maple is already a very tightly grained wood, and such a smooth finish sort of closed off the pores of the wood a little more than I would have liked, making it harder to get the driftwood solution to soak in.

Then I mixed up a very diluted batch of Driftwood Weathered Wood Finish. The directions call for one cup of water to one packet. I think I did at least three cups of water. I was going for a lighter color and I figured I could always apply a second coat to make it darker if need be.

After sanding, before applying the Driftwood Weathered Wood Finish (in the bowl).

This stuff instantly turns the water black so don't be shocked when that happens. Then I used a cheap foam brush to apply it, but it was a little weird that it didn't really soak in. I blame that on two things: sanding down too much and using the mineral spirits to clean off the excess stripper. But I just let it sort of sit on the table out in the sun (which is supposed to accelerate the effect) for a bit, dried it off and brought it back in. The directions say it can take up to 24 hours for the color to stop changing so then I just sat tight.

Overall I was pretty happy with the results, but there were still a lot of very warm-toned areas that I wasn't thrilled with and the whole thing was looking a bit splotchy. I thought about applying another coat of the driftwood finish, but I was afraid that would only make the difference between the grayer areas and the warmer areas that much more noticeable.

After the weathered wood finish dried, the table was looking a little splotchy and a bit too warm-toned.

So I tried spot sanding a little. I was interested to see that the driftwood finish really soaked in, so when I sanded it wasn't like I was starting with fresh wood. That's something to keep in mind if you decide to do this: I'm not sure going to back to fresh wood would be easy. By sanding the warmer-toned areas (undoubtedly spots that I didn't sand well enough originally) I was able to get it a bit blonder and take some of the red out.

After a bit of sanding it looked like this:

For awhile I thought about doing a very dilute coat of a gray stain over the table, but some very wise followers on Facebook told me it was time to stop and just walk away. It was a good reminder.

So then I got crazy and I wire brushed the whole table. Yep, that sounds as weird as it was, but I was trying to open up the pores of the wood so I could do sort of a limed effect with wax. This is where the type of wood limited me. If I were dealing with oak that would have totally worked and looked great. But maple has a very tight grain and trying to bring it out to be more pronounced is really hard.

I followed that up with a coat of liming wax. I bought some as a package with the weathered wood finish powder and didn't care for it at all. I found a lot of people online who swore by Briwax Liming Wax so if I were going to try this again, I think I'd try that. But the liming wax that I bought was hard as a rock and as far as I could tell, did absolutely nothing to provide that "limed" look. I even had to soften it in the microwave and it was extremely hard to work with.

I'm becoming a real fan of waxed finishes. I've had them on some furniture that I've purchased and used it when I redid our coffee table and I've been very happy with the durability of it. I also really like the low luster that it give after a good buffing and I knew I wouldn't have to worry about it yellowing or being too shiny like a polyurethane. After what that Polycrylic did to the original painted finish on the kitchen table I'm extremely hesitant to ever go near it (or anything like it) again.

I followed it up with several coats of Annie Sloan's Paste Wax. I love this wax so much. It is the consistency of whipped margarine and is extremely easy to work with. I also sprung for a waxing brush (I bought this one) and while I'm sure I could have applied it with a rag as I have in the past, I really enjoyed working with the brush and feel like it really made for a nice finish. Even though I've waxed stuff in the past, I searched online for a good tutorial to make sure I was doing it right. This video tutorial is great and I followed it to the letter (other than what to wash the brush in; I bought a bar of real lye soap which is fantastic for washing out brushes, although I wouldn't have it in the house if I had kids).

Toward the end I was getting mighty sick of buffing, so I had Mr. Much More Patient bring a buffer home from work one day and give it a good once over with that. I actually feel like the table got too shiny after we did that, but I know that waxed finishes tend to dull with time so I'm not worried about it.

I also gave the base a fresh coat of white paint (Benjamin Moore Cloud White to match all the other whites in the kitchen). I admit to a bit of laziness on this part of the project. I just sanded them down and gave them a really good cleaning and put a coat of paint over them. Since Polycrylic is water based I figured that a water-based paint would be OK to put straight over the top so long as I prepared the surface. And I didn't do any distressing, although I'm sure some will naturally occur.

This isn't a great picture, but it's the best angle from which to see the freshly painted base.

Since this became a very long post, I thought I'd just quickly summarize the steps I would do if I were to do this same project again (and skipping all the stuff I did that didn't help):

1. Strip the tabletop.
2. Clean off the excess stripper with a stripper wash.
3. Lightly sand the table.
4. Apply a coat of Driftwood Weathered Wood Finish.
5. Apply a second coat after 24 hours if needed (I did not).
6. Wait for the table to dry thoroughly and sand the entire thing to make it smooth and less splotchy.
7. Apply several thin coats of Annie Sloan paste wax.
8. Buff between each coat and especially at the end.
9. Wait for the wax to dry a few days before putting the table into heavy use.

It can be hard to tell true color on photos, but I'll leave you with this one to get an idea of whether I ended up with a true "driftwood" finish. I picked up these two bits of driftwood on the beach the other day and set them on the table when I was cleaning out my pockets. I had a hard time finding them at first.

Just to clarify, no products were provided to me for this project and of course all opinions, good and bad, are my own.

Clematis in bloom

The group 2 clematis are starting to wind down their blooming party, making way for the group 3s, which are starting to think about putting some buds on.

You saw the picture of one of the Guernsey Creams showing off its colors against a Japanese painted fern, and I missed taking a picture of the best showing of Mrs. N. Thompson, the gaudy lady who bloomed like crazy on the front of the house this year.

She's looking a little faded in this photo, but the 'CanCan' climbing rose is coming into its own in only its second year in this spot. All in all, it's bit of a riot of color with those two, but the all-white house needs a bit of that.

A few steps to the left, Ken Donson is blooming like crazy in the middle of the circle garden. I did a lighter than usual pruning on him this year, and I think that helped quite a bit. He's still holding his own against the William Baffin climbing rose, but I guess I've giving up on having those two bloom at the same time. If you look closely you can see the rose buds are just starting to show color.

And around the corner, in a spot that is shadier than I anticipated, this clemtis is doing an excellent job climbing up the piece of driftwood I stuck in the garden. I think this is either Niobe or Bourbon, but I'm not sure which. Either way, I'm loving the way it looks against the driftwood.

More clematis to come, I'm sure. I can't wait for Princess Diana and Recta Pamela to start showing off their stuff.

A couple of plant combinations I'm digging

Sometimes plants work together. Sometimes they fall a bit flat. In general I find that plants that work best together exhibit contrast, either in color or texture.

Here are a few combos I found in the garden this weekend.

Here is Proven Winners Superbena Royale Peachy Keen with purple ruffles basil (and you can see Blackberry Punch in there too). This is in my big container which I haven't shown you much of because it's not looking too spectacular this year. Peachy Keen, though is showing off now.

 

Don't you love it when you turn around in your garden and, WOW, something catches your eye. That was the case with one of the frilly red poppies that seeds itself quick happily around the place. The seeds originally came from a co-worker  and at least four of us at work now grow them. For all of us, the first ones popped open on Saturday, which is pretty interesting because other things in our gardens can be two weeks or more different in blooming time because of the microclimates at our houses. I call them "Carolyn's Magic Poppies" which sounds pretty bad if you don't know what we're talking about.

 

I have a few growing in a corner of the circle garden that I've been trying to turn into a red and yellow garden and despite the ketchup and mustard comparison, I do love how these bold poppies look next to Heliopsis Loraine Sunshine.

 

I'm finally accepting more yellow into my garden after banning it for awhile (more on that soon) and one of the unlikely combinations I've fallen in love with is pink and yellow. One of my favorite plants that I was sent by Proven Winners for their garden writers' trials this year (in which they send plants for the next year's introduction) is Superbells Cherry Star. I'm a sucker for a bright fuschia flower and I love it with a sunny yellow. And I love it even in more in a blue pot. I wish I could say I came up with the combination of Cherry Star and Nemesia Sunsatia Lemon, but I didn't. I stole that baby right from Proven Winners because I loved the photo on their website. I couldn't find three Sunsatia Lemons, so the middle pot has Mecardonia Gold Dust, which was one of my favorite PW introductions last year.

I have very informal (to a fault, lately, given the amount of weeds taking over the joint) gardens, so it's ironic that one of my favorite spots in the garden is probably the most formal area of the garden. It's a tricky spot on the west side of the house, in front of the fireplace wall, which I think creates a testy microclimate. I've tried (and lost) both a rose and a Japanese maple in this spot. Now it's a combination of a witch hazel shrub (just a baby, as it was added last year, and I'm not sure exactly which one it is), heuchera Black Beauty and hakonechloa All Gold (which I've read is "overused" but I don't give a rip, I love it). There is also heuchera Miracle in the background but that doesn't really add much to the equation. Certainly it's the combination of the dark leaves of Black Beauty against the chartreuse of All Gold that makes this area pop.

 

And sometimes, Mother Nature makes her own combinations that don't follow any rules at all but just look good. Somehow a pulmonaria seeded itself in a piece of driftwood "art" in the garden a few years ago. I left it there because I thought it was kind of neat how it grew up through the driftwood. There is no reason why it should be blooming right now, but it is, and so is clematis recta Pamela, which I let creep around the garden. For whatever reason I love how the combination of the delicate white flowers of Pamela combine with the pink bell-shaped flowers of the pulmonaria against the rugged driftwood. There is no design rule in the world that says that those two flowers should look good together (or be blooming in the same place together for that matter), but I like it.

 

So what great plant combinations are growing in your garden this year?

 

Proven Winners sent me a selection of plants for review as part of their Garden Writers testing program. I have not been paid or instructed to write about them. All of the opinions on them expressed here are completely my own.

The quest for free garden art continues

You know you have issues when you set out to just take the dogs to the beach for a walk and you end up 45 minutes later driving your lawn mower down the beach. But that's exactly what happened on Sunday.

This was the view from the lawn mower on Sunday. It's way too early for lawn mowing here, but who doesn't like to go for a relaxing ride on the beach? That's Mr. Much More Patient and Rita (Hudson is in the water off to the left) following. He got to drive the lawn mower down the beach and I drove it back.

You know I have a thing for driftwood. I love it for a lot of reasons, but I really do like it in the garden. Sunday was a good day to be on the lookout because last week we had a couple days of big storms, which had the good fortune (for me) of causing some rocking waves that pushed a lot of stuff up on the beach, followed by a big seiche to uncover a lot more of it.

If you're not familiar with seiches, and you didn't realize that the water level in the Great Lakes changes (and not just seasonally but sometimes hourly), think of it as sort of a tide, although some descriptions say it is better compared to a tsunami. Basically changes in air pressure, move the water in the lake around, and on Sunday, the high pressure that had come in dragged a whole lot of water eastward toward Michigan, meaning that my next piece of garden art had been unearthed.

Don't you collect garden art with a set up like this all the time?

 

It's a lovely tree trunk portion, with a root that juts out to look a little bit like a whale vertebrae. It's got a lot of character.

The problem with these little finds, though, is that they are often water logged, which means they are really heavy. Fortunately Mr. Much More Patient knows that finding free garden art in front of our unsuspecting neighbors' houses means I won't be buying garden art and he's happy to help.

So that's how we ended up hooking up the garden cart to our decrepit freebie riding lawn mower, cutting through our neighbor's yard and driving that baby down the beach to collect our little find.

We'll see where it ends up, but I think one of the new gardens I have planned for the back yard would be a pretty great place for it.

Driftwood turned decor

I've been walking past driftwood my whole life.

I couldn't begin to add up how many walks on the shore of Lake Michigan I've taken over the course of my life, but an average of two per week since I was about 5 equals about ... well, a lot. And until about four years ago I probably never picked up a piece of driftwood.

And then I started to see interesting shapes in pieces of wood. I dragged home one that I called "The Diver" and it became a holder for our house numbers at the end of our driveway.

Two pieces have ended up as garden art.

And I continue to be inspired by all the creative things people do with driftwood.

Check out this post and this post from Completely Coastal to see what I'm talking about. Even West Elm is selling driftwood artwork. Or you can go to Pottery Barn and pick up a driftwood mirror.

I'll be honest: It kind of kills me that the stuff I've been walking by all these years is now for sale at Pottery Barn.

So earlier this year I started picking up little bits of driftwood instead of just looking at the big pieces (best found in spring after the winter storms wash up the big stuff on the beach). Every time I go to the beach I pick up a few interesting, small pieces of driftwood. I guess I'm collecting them in case I decide I want to make something out of them someday (and I love the idea of mobiles and frames made of the stuff). But what does one do with these things while they are collecting it? I just grabbed a cheap hurricane vase and threw in there.

But guess what? I'm starting to kind of like this driftwood-turned art/collection thing going on. And judging from people's reaction to it, so do some other people. Sometimes when people come over they like to pull out pieces and look at them closer and pick their favorites or have a discussion about what they think it looks like (driftwood tends to be cool that way; like clouds people "see" different things in a piece of driftwood).

This is may be the world's most interesting "tablescape," but it's a conversation piece.