Interior Design Trend 2014: fairy garden

Remember I showed you my dining table?

With it's lovely aged patina? Well, I waxed it and it looked a bit orange. I hated it. So I wet some wire wool with white spirit and scrubbed the wax off. It turns out that lovely aged patina was mostly dirt. (Eew!) It all scrubbed away leaving a rather unsplendid looking newish pine table.

Oops.

I've killed it.
It dried paler but it still looks orange to me.

Table leg before

Table leg after

What I'd like is a Scandinavian looking pale scrubbed pine table top. Like this:

(This is rougher than my table)

I could do this in several ways.
Firstly with a paint wash to add paleness with the wood grain still showing through. I did this on my last table. Second, I could use a white wood dye which would penetrate the wood further than paint sitting on the top. And third, I could use a wood bleach to actually take the natural colour out of the wood. And this third method is what I'm leaning towards. I like the idea of taking out the colour rather than adding whiteness. More honest.

I have never used wood bleach before. To get the best result apparently I need a two part wood bleach which can be tricky to use and the surface is large so it's going to be hard to get an even coverage.

I was hoping this table would be our 'forever' table. If this goes wrong, it will just be another one of the many tables that come and go from this house. Boo hoo.

Today was my 43rd birthday. It's been a perfect day incorporating a boot sale and a bit of table scrubbing. What more could I ask for?

The greatest gift I ever received was exactly seven years ago tomorrow. A slightly late birthday present.

So the bunting is out for double celebrations.

Tonight I shall be catching up with the rest of the country by watching the first episode of the new series of Luther. Cannot wait!

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It seems summer might have arrived at last. As a nation we are all heading into the garden. Now, I am no gardener but I am a prettifier so I'm going to share my garden with you. (Well, the pretty bits.) Bear with me as 'Painted Style' goes 'Country Living.'

An old eiderdown makes a comfy place to sit and tell the husband it's his turn to mow the lawn.

This topless table is a work in progress. I love the rust! It would have had a glass top but I'm thinking of something else...at the moment it's not all that practical.