Driftwood Walnut Buffet Makeover

Hello friends- Fall is fast upon us and Zack and I are less than a month away from our Italy departure. It feels like time has become this vacuum towards our IT departure and I'm just trying to hold on for dear life. I thought I'd answer one of your most asked questions today. Everyone always asks what my favorite Weatherwood product is for refinished furniture, in particular. No, it's not my original formula, the Reclamation stain. It's a no-fail gray perfect for weathering any wood type. It's called Light Oaking and it's gorgeous on this gorgeous walnut piece from Cathy!

Here's how to use Light Oaking on your refinished piece. This was your typical piece of walnut furniture. There's a million of these babies floating around each waiting for its chance at a makeover! So it shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on one, and at a good price. 

Materials

• Wood Project- species doesn't matter
• 1 Garbage Bag
• Citristrip
• Mineral Spirits
• Palm Sander
• Weatherwood Stain's Light Oaking
• Weatherwood Stain's White Maintenance Oil

Directions

1.] STRIP: First you'll want to apply a thick layer of Citristrip to the table. Citristrip has a tendency to dry out before it can eat away at all the layers of stain and lacquer. So covering the wet stripper with a garbage bag helps keep the moisture in while it works.

2.] SCRAPE: When the stripper turns white, it's ready to be scraper off. Remove the bags and scrape as much of the mixture off, as you can. You'll want to try and get down ti the raw wood if you can. But being careful not to scrape or damage the wood itself. 

3.] CLEAN: You will want to wipe the table down with mineral spirits and a rag to remove any existing residue. This should remove any sticky residue from the tabletop. 

4.] SAND: Here's the labor portion. You want to use a palm sander and 80 grit sandpaper to make sure the wood is completely down to raw. 

5.] STAIN: Weatherwood released a new stain that can turn oak into a beautiful driftwood gray, called Light Oaking. This product can work on any wood, so it's less complicated than some of their other products.

Before

After

6.] LIGHTEN: If you want to lighten the look like Cathy did here, you can add a coat of White Maintenance Oil. It adds the look of patina and is just generally gorgeous. Simply brush or wipe onto wood, allow to sit 3-7 minutes. Then wipe off with a clean cloth. Or you can watch the video above. 

We are looking for our Air BNB in Rome, if any of you have a favorite neighborhood, please let me know! Don't forget to stop by and give Cathy some love!