For this week's project, we're back to my roots! Which means we're creating knock off Restoration Hardware colors today! This project is easy peasy, just apply to wood and watch the magic happen! You're going to love this tutorial to easily achieve the Reclaimed Gray Oak look.
Materials
- Table
- Garbage Bag
- Citristrip
- Mineral Spirits
- Scraper
- Palm Sander, Sand Paper
- Gloves
- Rags
- Weatherwood Stain's Light Oaking
- Weatherwood Stain's White Maintenance Oil
- Weatherwood Varnish, Satin
Directions
Here's the "before" of this typical, out dated oak table. There's a million of these babies floating around from the 80's and 90's. It shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on one, and at a good price.
If you're using a brand new, or raw wood table, please skip down to step #5. Thanks!
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. You can see in this video what I mean.
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 incredibly easy to use.
6.] LIGHTEN
If you want to lighten the look, 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.
See how pretty and soft the white maintenance oil is? It's much more subtle than a paint product and really just makes the wood look sun-kissed.
For additional project looking to achieve the Restoration Hardware look, you can search our archives for tons of inpiration or check out this popular post below!
I've also got a paint update for you guys! We are selecting our final shades for our The Furniture Paint launch, so keep your fingers crossed for me! xoxo
