I am a sucker for these little oak washstands!
I just can’t resist anytime I see one at a flea market or estate sale. I love their primitive character! I also love though just how sturdy these pieces are–that’s one of the best things about working with old oak!
I almost always use milk paint for these oak pieces. I think milk paint does a great job highlighting the beautiful oak wood grain and it seems to fit with the more primitive vibe as well.
In fact, you can see a few more milk paint oak makeovers here, here and here!
This one I wanted to give kind of a beachy, coastal feel, so I decided to go with the light teal color, called Eulalie’s Sky.
To prep, I cleaned it off with a bit of TSP, then sanded down the top with my orbital sander. I didn’t worry about getting it all the way back to raw wood, just taking off most of the dark color.
Then I painted on 2 coats of Eulalie’s Sky and finished it off by lightly distressing and buffing on some Clear Wax over the paint. White Wax went on the sanded-down top.
By the way, have I mentioned how much I love this brand of White Wax??!
Here’s the piece all finished up!
A little bit of the beach up here in Texas 🙂
See how the pretty oak grain still shows through the milk paint? I love it!
The White Wax did its job beautifully, washing out the top and leaving behind just a hint of white.
So if you’re looking for an easy way to update one of these old oak pieces, why not give milk paint a try?
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Thanks for letting me share!