Antique white finish on wood furniture

Antique white is one of finishing color that is most used on the wood furniture products. Antique white is a white color with the impression of antique or old looked. There are many finishing techniques can be used to make antique looked such as: physical distress, sand though or rubbed trough, etc.  The antique effects also can be made with the stain or glaze application such as: spatter, cow tail, dry brush glaze, etc. There are also much  white color can be made , from the yellow white to the black or brown white. The antique white finish could be a white color with a relatively clean appearance with a slightly application of glaze to the antique broken looked with heavy distress and antique glaze effect. 

Now in this article we want to write the finishing process to make an antique white color.  In here we make an antique white finish which is quite clean with just little antique effect and sand trough. 

 the antique white step panel

The finishing step is as follow:

•   Stain application.

A black stain is applied to the wood to provide a basic color on the wood under the white color. The black stain color underneath will create a contrast looked when the white paint is sanded trough. The result is white color with some black color comes trough from the underneath. that give combination of white and some black color creating an attractive  finishing looked.

•  Sealer application.

After stain application, a sealer is needed to be layered on the black stain. The sealer is used to protect the stain and also to make the smooth finishing surface. One or two wet coat of sealer is necessary to layered on the stain.  After the sealer is dry then continue with the sanding operation.  Sand the sealer with 280 or 320 grade sandpaper to make a smooth surface.  

•  Applications white paint.

After a smooth surface is obtained then the next process is the white paint application. The white base coat or white paint is applied on until the white color  fully cover the underneath color. Two or three layer of base coat application usually needed to form the even white color. 

• Sand trough.

After the white base coat is dry, it is needed to be sanded to get a smooth surface. The sanding is done to make a smooth surface and also to make the antique effect from the sand trough the white color. First sanding operation is done to the whole surface of the base coat to make an even and smooth surface.  Then continue the sanding on some parts to display the black color underneath to make the antique effect and contrast looked of the finishing.

The sanding needs to be done appropriately since the finishing looked will highly affected by the sand trough effect. The sanding must be done so it produces a naturally worn rubbed looked that caused by age and usage. The sanding trough on some edges randomly and well balance will create a naturally antique looked white finish.  

• Sealer application.

After the sanding process is completed is done and a smooth surface and good sand trough is obtained then the next process is sealer application.  One wet coat of sealer is needed to protect the stain underneath. The sealer is also need to resolve the underneath coat to eliminate the scratches and sanding mark from the previous sanding operation. The sanding mark of scratches mark should be eliminated since it will seem obviously in the glaze application.

• Glaze application.

After the sealer is dry then the next process is the glaze application. Glaze can be applied by brush, or wiping to produce the antique looked and also to form the finishing color. The thickness of the glaze will form the color while the antique effect is depending on the technique application of the glaze. Since that the glaze application need to be applied consistently. In this finish the glaze is spray and followed by wipe clean and leave the glaze only in the inside carves and crevices. By this method an antique white finishing  with relative clean looked is obtained.

• Top coat application.

The last process is top coat application. The top coat is applied to protect the color underneath, to make the sheen and to produce the smooth surfaces. The top coat application should be done after the glaze is already dry. The application clear coat on the wet glaze is highly risk to get finishing problem such as crack, adhesion problem and even color problem.

Since it is a white finish, a yellowing film is not allowed. A non yellowing top coat with low sheen is the most suitable for this coat. One layer of top coat is enough if it already  produce a smooth and even surface. But if the surface is still rough, then another layer of top coat is needed. 

antique white finish