Limed Oak Bench Loses Orange Colour

This limed oak bench was part of a dining room set that included a dining table, chairs and of course the oak bench. The dining set had been in the family home for many years. But, as is the way with oak furniture, it had gone very orange in colour. It's a perfectly natural feature of oak and if left long enough the oak will eventually turn a very dark colour indeed. Perhaps even black after a hundred years or more.

We approached the task with a very good sand of all the furniture including the bench. This task was relatively easy because everything was flat without mouldings, details or carvings. Since it's these features of furniture that make the limed look rather hard to achieve.

Oak Bench Makes Sanding Process very Easy

So if you do have intricately carved furniture or furniture with mouldings, then liming is probably not for you. It's just too difficult and too expensive to achieve the look. However this furniture was different as it featured so many flat surfaces. And it was very easy to achieve the right effect with mechanized sanding and a small amount of hand sanding.

Once sanded we applied some Annie Sloan Old White chalk paint that we mixed into a one to ten solution with water. We then brushed this into the oak, waited for it to dry, sanded a few patches and then applied two coats of Annie Sloan clear wax. We buffed the wax after 24 hours for each coat and the job was done.

All in all very pleasing look for the limed oak bench and the rest of the furniture in the set.

When you need help advice and assistance with your furniture makeover, shabby chic, limed look or the clean painted look then please don't hesitate to get in touch. Because we can paint your furniture.