How To Get A Light Rustic Wood Color Finish (2024)

Another project! I always love a good project and couldn’t pass this up when I found it on our local Marketplace site. It’s solid wood which is great for me when I don’t know what color I’m going to be staining it, then I can sand it back down 50,000 times. Not what I intended, but sometimes that’s the way it turns out. I actually only completely sanded this one down twice…that’s a step in the right direction, compared to some of my past projects. The photo below is how it was when I picked it up…very dirty, yellowy and orangey looking. (Affiliate links are used in this post)

I knew I wanted to sand it down just by seeing the photos of it that the seller had posted. I do love all of the beat up and used marks all over in it! I love a good rustic old looking wood table!

I sanded it all down with 60 grit sandpaper with my new hand sander, which I am totally in love with, by the way. If you are looking for a hand sander, I highly recommend this one! I finished it off by smoothing it out with my hand sander and 150 grit sandpaper. I did like the natural wood look of it, but trust me, it looked a whole lot yellowey’er than the photo is showing. Yes, yellowey’er IS a word?

My initial thought when getting the table was to stain it a warmer brown color. I started by mixing weathered oak and early american stain…ahhhhhhh!!!! It was way too grey and a lot darker than I had desired!

Back to the sanding block I go…I sanded the whole darn thing to bare wood, again! I thought this time I would try to bleach it. I wiped straight household bleach on it (2 coats) and it was beautiful…out in the sun! When I took the table inside, it still had a yellowy hue when the lights were turned on and it wasn’t vibing in the space that I wanted it for.

I had done a certain technique that I had loved in the past and thought I would try it out on the table. It’s the same technique that I used on this large drawer cabinet. It’s super easy, but can only be used on raw wood or sanded down wood. Since I had already sanded the table down, it was perfect for it!

It’s basically a three step process…sand to bare wood, apply white wash and let dry, and then apply glaze. I love the lighter rustic wood color that it gives to the wood!

1. White wash (with lint free cloth)…try to get into all of the grooves and let it sink into the wood. I’ve noticed that this white wash can be tough to find…I actually found mine at my local ACE hardware, but here is a photo of it online.

2. Glaze (with lint free cloth, over dried white wash)…the glaze, I have only been able to find at Home Depot.

Below is an outdoor photo, with no brightening or filters, of what the difference is with this technique. The top board is plain pine, the middle board is pine white washed, and the board on the bottom is pine, white washed and then glazed on top.

And, that’s it!!! I love how it turned out! At first, I was unsure because it does give a streaky look in some areas, but once I had the whole table done, I was IN LOVE with it! At midpoint of having it done, I almost took it back outside and sanded it down but my hubs begged me not to because he loved it so much. I’m glad I listened to him…for once, haha.

It’s tough to get good photos of it with the lighting and all of the character, the bottom half is showing a little darker than it actually is.

An old, beat up, rustic table look is what I wanted and I’m super pleased with the way it turned out!

You can see the unevenness of the color a little better here. I think part of that is because of the type of table it is, but part of it is because of the technique too. I’m sure the color would be slightly different on different types of wood too…this is pine, I believe.

Again, here the bottom looks darker than it really is…

The photo below gives a better representation of the coloring on the bottom, than in the previous photos. Chester loves it too!

I would love to hear what you think of my grubby table, turned rustic! Thanks for following along on IG stories (@vintageporch)…I just love hanging out with you all!!!!!