Tuesday, December 18, 2007

pickled white oak

one of my favorite things about having this blog is that i feel like it keeps me in the "know"; i am challenging myself to want to keep up with the latest and greatest, as well as educating myself on things that i may not have known previous to this....which leads me to today's post on pickling... i think we are going to be seeing a lot more of the "pickled" look in wood finishes. it seems like the weathered, distressed, almost drift wood look is where designers are heading- and i love this. maybe it's because i live in a beach town but i love the soft, gray hues that are given off by the wood and the rawness that it produces. i guess i am kind of over the really dark stained cabinets and this is my way of opening myself up to a new evolution of wood cabinetry. i adore this kitchen done in the pickled white oak. it is so clean and crisp...something that i find myself gravitating to much more in design. pickling is definitely not limited to cabinetry; it looks amazing on furniture, applied on floors or ceilings (oh, love it on the ceilings).

i was intrigued on how they actually do the pickling stain to the wood so i researched it a little. it was created to make new wood look old or "dusty". stainers took the wood, generally oak, and created a formula...take a handful of rusty nails and soak them in vinegar for 3 days; this would produce a gray solution that was then applied to the raw wood. today, they have come up with a much more calculated approach to pickling...it involves primer and paint thinner. either way, the look is gorgeous and i think something we will be seeing a lot more of....

1 comment:

Things That Inspire said...

From what I understand, the 'pickled' look was quite popular in the late 80s. My neighborhood was built in the late 80s, and most of the homes had pickled oak floors and cabinets. Most of the homes restained in the late 90s/early 00s, but I have kept my pickled floors and cabinets. Even though they weren't fashionable (and I would be thrilled if they became fashionable again), I never refinished them because I love how light and bright they make my house.