I want to pickle the old panelling on my sun porch to lighten the walls, but I don't want to hide the wood. Have any hints or suggestions??

By Kaye on Sunday, July 31, 2005 - 12:11 am:

hmmm, I have pickled cabinets, but they came they came that way. I never thought of doing that yourself. If I had to just guess I would probably try some sort of stain remover. The catch is a LOT of paneling is kind of a fake wood grain, plastic over the real wood. If it is the real stuff, and I think it is easy to tell, then maybe sanding them down and restain with a light pickle finish. I would buy a piece of similar paneling and cut into 2x2 pieces and play with some different ideas before I tackled the wall!

By Reds9298 on Sunday, July 31, 2005 - 09:40 am:

What is pickling?

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, July 31, 2005 - 09:51 am:

That was *my* question!

By Kaye on Sunday, July 31, 2005 - 03:08 pm:

I have pickled cabinets, the are just a light color, kind of a white washed, but that implies white over a dark color and that isn't quite right.

By Yjja123 on Sunday, July 31, 2005 - 03:14 pm:

I watched an HGTV show where they use 1 part white paint to 3 parts glaze and dry brushed the paneling. You could still see through the white to the wood but it had the over-all "pickle" look.

By Kernkate on Sunday, July 31, 2005 - 07:32 pm:

I didn't know what pickling was either... so I found this,

PICKLING means to bleach wood of its natural color and stain by rubbing white paint on and off the surface. Although this works best on an unfinished wood surface, it is also a suggested technique for lightening dark wood paneling.

Pickling is achieved by letting the paint penetrate the wood surface, so no primer is used. Instead use a two-step bleach, available at most paint supply stores. Apply a clear, non-yellowing alkyd or latex paint for the topcoat, rubbing it on and off with cheesecloth. Pickling should stain the surface, allowing the natural wood surface to show through; whitewashing coats the surface.

By Reds9298 on Sunday, July 31, 2005 - 10:48 pm:

Thanks a lot Kathy!

By Feona on Monday, August 1, 2005 - 08:05 am:

We had pickled green cherry wood(I think) in the kitchen. It looked terrible....

We just painted it white.

I think your wood work is gorgeous. But I guess the lighter color would be good too. My living room is paneled 3/4 to ceiling in 90 year old mahogoney wood with a picture ledge all around. I like it. Very restful room. The dark color gives my eyes a rest in the sunny room.