Hi again. :) Just so happens my kitchen (built in '91) has the pickled maple hardwood cabinets that were all the rage back then. I don't think that mine were ever that light, so it's possible what you're looking at might be a lighter wood (hard to see from the pic, but sometimes you can tell by seeing the grain). During a recent reno-gone-bad, the paint crew used a pickling wash (I think it was a Minwax can they had) over the island end piece, but I don't think it was as light as shown in the photo. An inexpensive experiment would be to purchase a piece of maple at HD and try the wash/stain.

I told you I thought the pic was small! But, it's on & staying just like that! :)

I think I like the hard maple for this. I got samples of the hard maple & white oak doors. I like the maple better. The coloring is about the same in the 2 woods, but I like the lighter graining on the maple. I have the doors I can practice on, & if I need to go buy a few more pieces of wood to see if I can get what I want, I will.

I hope I can make this work! We'll see!

My aunt hand that finish on her cabinets, built about the same time as javiwa's. She thinned pink paint to enhance the tones in the wood, then sealed with polyurethane. The stair rail in her open-plan house was treated the same.

She passed away last year, but she never tired of her pickled maple. The house sold as soon as it hit the market (good location).

I have a floor that looks like that. It is red oak stained white.

Wood bleach followed by a whitening oil.

In my crafting days, I used to "pickle" pieces for resale by miving flat paint and varnish. It was a simple, easy finish to apply...slather on...let it absorb some and wipe off..repeat if not colored enough. I do not remember my formula...if you want to experiment, try 1/2 and 1/2 to start.

There are "whitewash" stains that will do it in one coat, no messing around with dilutiuons

Hmmm, should I reconsider my finish if it's so out of style?!? Nah, I love this! I think it'll look good. That is if I can figure out how get the finish to look right.
Mama goose, I love that your aunt did her own cabinets back then. And, her stair rail! With pink paint, none the less! I wonder what kind of wood she had. I think I'll wait to see what I can do w/ white paint before I add the pink! :)
Keagle, I'd love to see a picture of you floors. I bet they look great. You didn't by any chance watch them do it, did you?
Sophie, I've never heard of either of those, but will look into them. This hard maple is pretty light colored so I'm wondering if I need anything w/ bleach? I'll ck them out & read what they say. Have you ever used either of those? If so, what wood did you use?
ranton, I actually did my little sisters walls in a 1920 house that had been wallpapered over cheese cloth over pine boards. It was about 10+ yrs ago & we did a great job! Unfortunately, neither one of us can remember what we mixed in w/ the paint, or how we actually did it! But, I think I can do it. I'd just love to hear if anyone on here actually knows how to do it & just what I'm getting into!
lazy_gardens, have you used any of that? Do you have one you recommend? I'll google & see what I can find. But, if you've used it & have any pictures, post them!

Thanks you guys! I appreciate your help. We'll see how this goes.

The advantage of paint and varnish combined means one coat to color and seal in one step...the commercial pickling available years ago was a two step process...I assume it still is.

Thanks for your tips rantontoo. I'll give it a try. I think this should be somewhat easy to achieve, it's just about getting the right process to go w/. I appreciate hearing your experience with the products you used.

I think it is a white stain followed by a very light wood-tone glaze. The recesses of the doors have been emphasized by the glaze; if only a white stain, it would look much whiter.
Casey

I was planning to try a little glaze on a sample, sombreuil. I used a briwax on a piece of furniture years ago that I was able to get that shading, but not sure how that would work in a kitchen. Would I stain, wax, then lacquer? Or, would the glaze work better? It'll take a little playing around to get what I want. If all else fails.....paint!

Thanks!

My aunt's cabinets were maple, built by her brothers (my father and uncle), with partial overlay slab doors. Her laminate counters were taupe-y pink-- thus the pinkish wash on the cabinets and other woodwork. Off-white vinyl flooring, and off-white berber carpet in the adjoining areas. Not my style, lol, but as I said, she loved it.

LOL, mama goose -- I'll see your aunt's maple cabinets and raise you floral wallpaper (with mauve flowers, of course!), mauve backsplash tile, and, of course, light mauve fireplace surround to match the light mauve entry foyer tile! We've moved past the mauve-and-wallpaper phase (it was our first ever home...what can I say?), into our red-kitchen era, and will be embarking on a new journey soon.

Wow! That is quite a difference from the beautiful inspiration pic, above. Actually I think I had a couple of country-blue geese that would have played nicely with your colors. ;)

Aaah...so you DID notice the country blue flowers in the wallpaper! :) (Sorry to hijack, bicyclegirl!)

I did a similar look on knotty pine cabinets in my kitchen as well as others throughout the house. I've used both thinned down white paint, or even primer, and also the Minwax pickling whitewash with basically the same results.

I followed with several coats of satin laquer, using a sprayer.

Here is my floor. I did not see how they did it. Not the best picture... It's lighter in person and not so pink.

I can just picture that mama goose! She sounds like she was quite a styler! And very cool that your father & uncle built the cabinets! Were you ever a lucky recipient of their craft?
javiwa, that mauve might have gone w/ mama goose's aunt's kitchen! Love the country blue flowers! Actually, I was reading recently that flower prints are big now. But, I think it was more on furniture than walls! :) No problem on the hijack! Anything to break up some work!!
Thanks for showing me the floors keagle. Very pretty!
cook, I love pine! This finish I'm wanting to achieve would be great for a pine, but it was pretty expensive & I was afraid it'd be too soft. Do you have any pictures? I'd love to see the finished product! What did you thin the paint & primer w/? What was your ratio? How about your technique for applying the products? I'm wanting a matte finish, not too shiny. Would a satin lacquer give me a matte finish? Is it easier to spray a lacquer on than brush it on? So many questions!! Any answers you have would be greatly appreciated!

While there are water based products that can be thinned with water, I've always preferred oil based paint/primer for whitewashing/pickling, thinned with turpentine or mineral spirits. The ratio really depends on the look you want, and especially the hardness/porosity of the wood.

Typically, I brush or wipe on with a rag, and then wipe back off with a rag to the desired amount of pigment left on the wood and in crevices and details. With wood as hard and dense as Maple, you'll need to experiment how long to leave it on for the results you want. You can always go back and add more over it until you're pleased. Personally, I would choose a wood other than Maple with a more open grain, and or softer if specifically wanting to whitewash, but that does not mean it can't be done! White Oak is beautiful whitewashed/pickled, Red oak is nice too, but has a tendency to go pink, so adding some blue or gray in the thinned mix can help mitigate the effect.

Laquer is typically sprayed on, as it dries in minutes, and can be re-coated several times in one process. There are also brushing laquers that have a slower dry time, I've used Deft brand and it works well. Most top coats are available in a matte finish, satin is just a notch above matte on the gloss scale, and is a bit more wipeable for a kitchen.

Pine in the kitchen... (also on the T&G sloped ceiling that you can't see)

Pine paneling in the family room...

Pine wall unit and ceiling in my home office. I wanted the ceiling to contrast the cabinet and crown a bit, so used very little pigment, and wiped off quickly...

Here's an article about the home and how the cabinets were finished:

Jersey Belle home

bicyclegirl, I'm sorry I missed your question until now. I have several pieces built by my carpenter/contractor father, including a cherry bookcase that he built to house our set of encyclopedia, in the early 1970's, and a piece of wood wall art that he made when he was learning to use his first router, in the mid-1960's. The wall art has hung in every house in which I've lived since then. I have a cutting board made by my uncle, for whom woodworking is a hobby.

My aunt had lived many years in Florida before she retired to Ohio (home to the rest of us), so I think she chose colors that reminded her of the stuccoed homes in central FL.

cookncarpenter, I'm just seeing this. This is perfect! Your home is
gorgeous! Did you do all of that work on your home yourself? That must have have been a bit of labor! I love your kitchen. The pine cab's are stunning! Is this a cabin in the woods!? If not, it should be. It
looks so warm. I could live in that without any problems!! :)

Thank you for the how to & type of products. I backed off the maple because it's a little blotchy with a stain. Maybe I should try the paint & turpentine & see how that works w/ it. I've ordered a select white oak door to see what we can do w/ that. Maybe that might be better. I really appreciate your help & thoughts on how to do this.

Oly, that's the house! I love the whole place, especially the outside architecture. Very different. I didn't see where they talk about how to do the cabinet finish. Is there a link or something I'm missing? I'm very curious what type of wood the cabinets are. The island & range hood are some type of cypress I'm not familiar w/, but is uniquely beautiful. You can tell the cab's are a different wood, tho.

mama, I'm glad to hear you were the lucky recipient of your father & uncles craftsmanship. I'd love to learn to work w/ wood. But, I have enough on my hands right now, so that'll just have to wait until my retirement days, that are not anytime soon! I would have loved to have met your aunt. She sounds like a wise woman!

bicyclegirl - I happened to catch an episode of This Old House today, and they were preparing a piece of maple for staining. They specifically mentioned that maple doesn't take stain well (how many times have we read that on GW, right?!), and the host simply wiped down the surface of the maple with a rag dampened with water -- said it opened up the grain of the wood to help it more readily accept the stain. (It turned out beautiful, of course -- it was a very dark stain.) If you have any extra maple, maybe give that a try.