There's a pine chest sitting in a lot of living rooms in Surrey — and the problem with most of them is that same persistent orange varnish. It dates the piece. It fights with every paint colour on the walls. And it makes an otherwise well-proportioned, practical box look tired. This pine chest had good bones. Deep enough for blankets, solid enough to serve as a coffee table. The brief was simple: a limed finish. Pale, calm, and in keeping with the rest of the room. Because sometimes the simple ones—the limed pine chest—are the most satisfying.
Limed Pine Chest Proves its Worth
The Process
The limed look is different from a painted finish. There's no primer, no undercoat, no topcoat. The grain does the work — and everything we do is in service of letting the wood show through.
Step 1
Prepare the chest. We removed the lid and the brass hinges before starting. It makes the sanding easier and keeps the hardware clean.
Step 2
Strip back the varnish. The orange varnish came off through sanding alone. We worked methodically over the flat panels with medium-grit paper, then moved to finer paper on the edges and feet. The goal is a smooth, open surface with the grain exposed and ready to absorb the liming mix.
Step 3
Apply the liming wash. We mixed Annie Sloan Old White chalk paint with water at roughly 10% paint to 90% water — a very dilute solution. Brushed on, it settles into the grain and whitens the wood without obscuring it. The orange disappears; what remains is pale, quiet and much like the look of naturally limed pine.
Step 4
Sand lightly. Once the wash was fully dry, a light sand took off any raised grain and left the surface smooth to the touch without disturbing the colour.
Step 5
Wax. Annie Sloan natural clear wax, applied and buffed back. The wax protects the surface and gives the finished chest a soft sheen — enough to catch the light, not so much that it looks polished.
Limed Pine Chest Waits for Delivery
This pine chest is a great example of what you can do with liming a piece of furniture. Solid wood, with plenty of flat profiles and very limited decorative features, it's simple to sand and apply the paint wash before waxing.
We re-fitted the lid and the hinges, and delivered it back.
The Finished Limed Pine Chest
Subsequently it's been set up in the living room — sitting on the carpet, low enough to use as a coffee table. Someone had draped a chunky cream knit throw across the front. Mugs on top, a couple of books, a small bunch of greenery in a pot. The pine was almost unrecognisable: pale, calm, nothing like the orange box that had left the house a week earlier.
We've written before about what the limed technique does for pine furniture. This chest is a good example of why it works so well on simpler pieces — no mouldings, no fussy detail, just flat panels of clean limed pine and a finish that will only improve with age.
If you have a pine chest, dresser or wardrobe with a varnish that's had its day, give us a call on 07766 225329.
Let's Get In Touch
Contact Details
When it takes sanding, painting, varnishing or waxing to get there, give us a call if you've got furniture that needs a transformation.
Phone Number
07766 225329
Email Address
furniture@shabby-chic-surrey.com