I think my neck and shoulders are finally back to normal after spending last week whitewashing a barnwood ceiling in our basement bar room. The ceiling isn't completely done so this is more of a sneak peek. I'm anxious to see it once the drywall is finished, flooring is installed and the room is decorated. Just keep that in mind if you look at these pics and wonder "what in the world was she thinking?!"
We were able to get the barnwood from an old shed that's being torn down on the acreage where I grew up. Free! Barnwood is a hot commodity these days so I'm thankful we didn't have to pay for it. We cleaned the boards up with a sander and a wet rag. Looking back, we should have power washed them. A power washer has now been added to our Christmas list!
We cut the barnwood with a combination of a circular saw, jig saw, table saw, and miter saw depending on the piece and where it was being hung. We fastened the pieces with a pneumatic finish nailer (worked great).
Our basement will be decorated with "cool colors" like greys, whites, and black so the natural barnwood color just didn't go. Plus, there aren't windows in this bar area so the barnwood made the room feel dark and small. I decided adding a whitewash would lighten the place up and still let the cool characteristics show through.
You can buy whitewash stains, but I just thinned down some white paint I already had on hand. I mixed two parts water to one part paint which worked really well.
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| Before whitewashing - we will have a six person high top table in this area. |
