Silver Wood: Interior Trim
Lighten dark, tired woodwork through a new variation of whitewashing.
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Though wainscotting, trim and wooden detailing often give a house character, some woodwork-- specifically dark-stained softwoods-- can look dated and overbearing, stealing the light and spunk from a room.
If your home has dark interior trim, what can you do to lighten the tone yet maintain the wood's character? Here is an excellent solution, similar to whitewashing. It involves stripping the wood, applying a special light-toned stain, and protecting with a clear finish.
The charm of this technique is in the stain: it is at once both vintage and contemporary, offering the friendly driftwood warmth of Shaker furniture yet reflecting a metallic silver sheen. It is mixed from an oil-based "limed oak" stain, titanium dioxide, a white pigment, and powdered aluminum. The limed-oak stain is available at paint stores; the other two ingredients are sold in artist's supply stores.
As with most staining or painting jobs, preparation is key. For the stain to take, all varnish or paint must be stripped and sanded from the wood. If your trim has years of built-up varnish, the stripping and sanding will be-- by far-- the most tedious part of the job. To refinish an area about the size of the corner shown in this photograph (from floor to ceiling), the stripping and sanding took about 2 hours; the stain application about 15 minutes.
 For the stripping, you can use either paint remover (as shown here) or furniture refinisher, depending upon the existing finish. Paint remover will strip paint or multiple layers of varnish. Furniture refinisher is less caustic to work with and can handle stripping one or two coats of varnish effectively (just apply it with steel wool and wipe the surfaces with a rag).
No matter which stripper you choose, work from a metal bucket and wear rubber gloves to protect your hands. Don't forget to protect the floor with a drop cloth before you begin and plan to repaint wall areas around the trim later.
After cleaning the stripped wood with a rag, sand all surfaces until you reach lighter wood beneath the surface. Begin with a 60-grit paper and finish with 100-grit or finer. Choose "open-coat" silica sandpaper; it will last longer than lesser-quality abrasives. You can sand by hand or --for a large area-- use a power vibrating sander (a "palm sander" is the easiest to handle for this type of work).
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 If sanding doesn't lighten the wood satisfactorily, you can apply an easy-to-use, two-part wood bleach, available at paint stores.
Here's how to mix the stain: Pour about 2 inches of "limed oak" oil-based stain into a plastic bucket. Add about 2 tablespoons of white titanium dixoide white. Mix well. Then stir in about 1 tablespoon of aluminum powder.
Test the stain in an inconspicuous place and modify ingredient amounts if necessary. Then tackle the actual application, working in areas that you can complete in about 15 minutes-- the period the stain should set before you wipe it off. Use clean rags to wipe off all excess stain, rubbing in line with the wood's grain. Allow stain to dry thoroughly, at least a day, then complete with a non-yellowing clear finish (such as an acrylic).
STEP BY STEP:
1. Apply paint remover with an old brush and/or steel wool. Work in small sections; when stripper lifts old finish move on to step 3.
2. Scrape loose finish from the wood, using a scraper or putty knife. Catch debris in a metal bucket.
3. Clean stripped areas by rubbing thoroughly with clean rags (you'll need to have a supply of rags on hand).
4. Sand all wood surfaces. Begin with a 60-grit, coarse sandpaper; finish with 100-grit or finer. Power-sand large areas.
5. Mix the finish in a plastic bucket. Combine oil-based limed oak stain with white titanium dioxide; sprinkle in aluminum powder and stir.
6. Apply stain to wood, using a trim brush. Before application, make anynecessary repairs and fill nail holes with wood putty.
7. Allow stain to cure for about 15 minutes, then wipe off with a clean rag, in line with the wood's grain.
8. Once stain has completely dried, apply one or two coats of a non-yellowing, clear acrylic finish.
Resources:
Limed-oak stain, McCloskey's
Powdered aluminum: Crest-lite
Crescent Bronze Powder, Inc.,
Chicago, IL. and Los Angeles, CA
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