The kids are home on break. We have all been all sorts of sick. I am going a little bit batty. And I NEED to do something other than sanitize puke buckets and washing laundry. A sewing project seems a little over zealous for a day like today. And for some reason this week it has started to drive me crazy to look at my shoe shelf. So I decided to wash it too. :)
I built this simple little shoe shelf a few years ago. It is sized to hold our most used shoes/boots. I love it... it could be bigger... we have a ton of shoes. So maybe one day I will build another one. When I built this it was on a whim and I never put on a top coat, just stain, so that made it possible for me to easily white wash it now.
I wanted to tone down the color and make it mesh better with the white shelves above but I didn't want it to be white because then it would just always look dirty. And I certainly did not want to take the time to paint! White wash is SOOOOOOO simple! Brush on, let sit a bit, wipe off. When white washing I like to go a little crazy and NOT go with the grain of the wood... I know, CRAZY. But it gives a little more texture. I usually brush on with the grain, wipe with the grain, wipe again against the grain, wait a minute and then wipe with the grain lightly. It is always a good idea to start on the underside of a piece to get the hang of your method.
I am not 100% sure I won't do another coat. But I know that if I add another it will become really white so I am just going to sleep on it for a bit.
Now that I spent an hour white washing... time to get back to wash washing... laundry, dishes, sheets, random things covered in germs.
Bravo to your for your D-I-Y initiatives. People can do so many creative and useful things for themselves if only they can tear themselves away from their TV's and cell phones.
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