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Kara Rosenlund Stylist

Floor Finale – White Washing

So the end has finally come. Above is our empty living room and also a close up of the tone and opacity of wash we achieved with Porters Paints Wood Wash. I am absolutely thrilled! Click here and here and here and here to see the progress, or just search within my blog for floor sanding. If you are thinking about doing this yourself here are my top 5 tips for white washing your floors yourself.

Im sure you will be seeing more of these floors in up coming posts!

  • Make sure you have appropriate time allocated in your calendar to do this. It is no weekender job. Things always ‘pop up’, work, social etc which will extend your allocated time line. If you are doing your entire house pack things up as though you are moving house and prepare for ultimate discomfort. Pack a suitcase for your work clothes, so it is easy to get dressed and go to work like a normal person. I would also have a couple of frozen meals in the freezer too. No one will feel like cooking.
  • Good Sanding Preparation is vital; I hired a professional floor sander and edger,  and I also used an orbital sander and a mouse to get into the tricky little corners. Also, don’t be tight on the sanding belts and pads, buy up big in grits of 60, 80 and 120’s, you can always return them if you don’t use them. Nothing worse than running out on a Saturday afternoon when you have hired a piece of machinery and the hardware store is closed….. (yes, that did happen to me)
  • Humidity plays a large part in the opacity of the wood wash. Obviously Queensland is very humid and I had to adjust my coats accordingly. If you think the paint is a little thick, then just add water, if you add too much water, add a bit more paint. I found I had to work fast with this product as my wood was very thirsty.
  • The application itself is more like french polishing, not so much as the instructions infer ‘wiping off excess’. I found I would wipe off excess, though at the same time be rubbing the product into the grain and blending the brush strokes out with muslin. Always use muslin and go plank by plank.
  • As I mentioned in one of my previous posts I was concerned about lines that had become apparent in my application. My application (two to three coats in places) also appeared a ‘little dust like’ sounds weird though that is the only way to describe it. All of these concerns disappeared as soon as the first coat of Porter’s Clearcote was applied. The Clearcote seems to settle the wood wash and enhance the visibility of the grain. We applied three coats of this.

Good Luck, email me if you want to!

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23 Comments to “Floor Finale – White Washing”

  1. They look amazing!!!!! I am so totally impressed by you – I am in utter awe! I cannot wait to see them in person – just such an amazing difference to your space – and your house looks HUGE!!! Lovely light as well. Win-win-win-WIN!!!

  2. What an amazing journey. The only additonal tip I would suggest is buy a really good lambs wool applicator, it makes such a difference, spend the extra dollars – it limits drops and evens out the coat.

  3. they look fabulous Kara. massive achievement. thank you for sharing your top tips. what is the wall colour? x

  4. Hey Sal! I know! The house feels HUGE and very calm. Im looking forward to getting used to the new ‘vibe’! x Sort of like dying your hair a new shade; all of a sudden all sorts of new colours go with the new look! Very exciting! Haha!

  5. Hey Sarah! Glad to share! The colour on the walls is Popcorn by Porters. I’m a bit of a Porter’s fan! I love Joy at the James street store! xx

  6. Kara-the floors are fantasic-the opacity is just perfect- They look so deeply inviting!! I do hope you and the “O” had a Champagne floor-sit party to celebrate! Just stunning!

  7. Hi Kara – really enjoying all your floor sanding adventures. Very inspiring and informative – might even tackle ours! Also love your all-white palette – could you tell me what your wall colour is? I find the range of whites makes the choice one of the trickiest to make. Thanks

  8. Hi Lee! Wow…. I think you should totally do it! It is quite amazing how relaxing pale timber beneath your feet feels! Let me know if I can help in any way!
    K x

  9. Hi Kara,

    I’ve been doing much the same (renovation wise) over the last few weeks and am now at the floor stage. I really want to stain the floors with Porters Plain White but my partner would prefer Hermitage. Our walls are Dulux Limed White half and he just doesn’t like the idea of all the white and grey- I do! Anyway, I just wanted to know how many litres you used to do your place. We have about 40m2 of floorboards to stain.
    Your home looks absolutely stunning!

  10. Hi There
    This is the floor am looking for. Can you confirm if this is different to the lime wash ? We have the lime wash but I find that I want our floors to be whiter.
    Many thanks
    Mark

  11. Hi Kara,

    I love white-washed floors! I was just wondering how they look 4 years on. Have they weared well? Any regrets?

    Also, by any chance, do you know how far white-wash ‘soaks’ into timber? If you changed your mind in a few years, how many millimetres of wood do you think you would have to sand off to get back to plain timber?

    Thanks,
    Daisy

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