WOOD FINISHES: how to give wood a Scandinavian vibe.
It's no secret we love natural and light wood tones. For years now, our go-to finish for every piece Ray has made has been a light whitewash followed by a matte non-yellowing sealant.
It's how we made every piece back in our RAKA MOD furniture making + designing days:
and it's continued to be a favorite way to finish pieces & spaces in current renovations and builds:
Now, back in the day, Ray and i went through a pretty extensive process of whitewashing each piece we made. I say extensive because the application of whitewashing wood using homemade whitewashes requires a lot of patience and attention to detail and even after all of that, the results are often unpredictable.
Homemade whitewash is very runny in nature
so it is normal for your piece to end up with drip marks without you noticing until the piece is dry. Because we never wanted any drip marks, we had to work quickly, but very carefully to ensure an even coat that looked natural rather than painted. Even though this process requires a lot of time, it was a process we were willing to go through since we loved the results so much.
That is until, we discovered the stain that has changed our lives:
So the thing with this stain, is the application process. It is SO easy! the stain is thick like a regular stain and not runny like homemade whitewashes.
Here is a video by Minwax on how to stain to your wood:
It applies on with a brush, and then wipes off with a rag- same way as you apply any other stain- easy peasy!
The stain softens up each wood tone and color while not masking any grain,
(below is an example of various types of wood before stain application)
And unlike whitewash, the softened tone that this stain provides remains even after a clear sealant is applied (something we often lost when using homemade whitewash as most of the application brushes off by the sealant.)
Pine, birch and poplar give off a Scandinavian wood vibe which we love. White oak and red oak end up with a light weathered look that gives character to any piece or build.
So basically, we have become obsessed and will never go back to traditional whitewashing again and all thanks to one little can!
Well, we hope you enjoyed! Remember to share pictures of your finished projects using this stain via email or on our Instagram so we can view and repost! <3
Love, Ray and Karla
