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Paint Home Decorating Furniture

Should I whitewash my antique oak table to update it?

2 years ago

Round, with 2 leaves and 6 chairs. Local refinisher says I should not whitewash it or pickle it. Why not? I would like to whitewash the base and the chairs and refinish the top in dark stain.

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Comments (12)

Jilly
2 years ago
Please don’t. This is not a common piece of furniture. It's absolutely gorgeous — the grain is fabulous, it was built with excellent workmanship, and painting it will destroy all character and history.

Once all of these old treasures are gone, that’s it.

If you want something whitewashed, maybe look for another piece to do and sell this to someone who will appreciate how wonderful it is in its original state.
cat_ky
2 years ago
Absolutely not. Why would you want to de valuate your table, and the gorgeous wood it is constructed with.
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Oh, that looks lovely but unfortunately a bench is out since there is not enough width between the wall and a window for it to make sense (you can see the edge of the curtain in my picture above). It's also a difficult living room for furniture arrangement since there are two double width door openings, one from the hall then one from the dining room with sliding pocket doors. The third wall has the fireplace and built in bookcase and the fourth is almost all window (but no direct light unfortunately). The idea of a second bookcase, I agree, would add more symmetry to that wall but I'm imagining it will be on the expensive side and we're trying to keep this low budget (hence the idea to whitewash). If I understand correctly, you feel we can't whitewash without painting the bookcase and mantel and even then you feel we would need to add something (bookcase or bench) to the opposite side of the fireplace. One other idea we had was to leave the fireplace unpainted but add an oak board that we would stain the same color as the mantel to cover up the top three rows of bricks (including the vertical ones that stick out) making it less busy. I worry that even doing that, it won't be enough. Finally, what about adding a surround in wood? I'm supposing if we do that we would have to paint the mantel and bookcase a similar color, correct? And there would still be the problem of symmetry. I should mention that there is a lot of oak mouldings throughout the house. Some of these we have painted already as they were just too dark and with over 100 years of soot and dirt were going to be too difficult to clean. We did leave the mouldings of several of the doorframes and the pocket doors to the dining room in the natural oak. There are two built in oak china cabinets in the dining room which is why we were trying to preserve the oak bookcase. But the more I see pictures of painted bookcases, the more I'm tempted to paint ours. Here is something quite similar to ours. What do you think?
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jmm1837
2 years ago
Nope. If you want that look, sell your table and buy a cheap replacement to play around with.
aziline
2 years ago
I will happily buy it from you. We have been looking for a table like this and it is one of the better ones I've seen.
KW PNW Z8
2 years ago
Please listen to your local refinisher! Did this person explain why altering finish is not a good plan?
flarobyn
Original Author
2 years ago
Yes he said I probably would never be able to get it back to the original finish.
Mrs Pete
2 years ago
That's a gorgeous table -- leave it as is. It's a classic antique and is in NO WAY "outdated".
KW PNW Z8
2 years ago
@flarobyn - that’s true - once painted there’s no going back. I hoped that person would have discussed the value of the piece - it’s not a cheap decorator item to paint up to fit a decor theme. I hoped that refinisher told you that white washing this beautiful oak wouldn’t look good - all that detail in the claw feet & the center post egg & ?? not dart - just won’t look good with a white wash.
flarobyn
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you all for your expert advice! I was hoping this refinisher knew what he was talking about and you all have confirmed it. The table will be refinished but in a natural oak. I’ll post a photo of the finished table - although it will be a year before he can do it.
kculbers
2 years ago
So glad you are refinishing it in natural oak! It is a gorgeous oak table. My oak oval table is much less ornate; it is about 40 years old. The top is a bit scratched and I plan to get the top refinished. I love oak furniture!
KW PNW Z8
2 years ago
@flarobyn Thank you for telling us what you’ve decided to do with your table. I must admit to a feeling of relief at reading your post! Silly, I know, as it’s not my piece of furniture - but it’s such a lovely old piece and such beautiful oak!
cat_ky
2 years ago
I share your sense of relief. I actually do have a table. Mine is over 150 yrs old, and was passed down through family. It does not have the claw foot feet, but, it does have the beautiful oak.

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