Rustic Windows-White Wash Technique

   I am very excited about this project. I have to say though at first I was very nervous, I thought it would be a complete disaster. But to my surprise it turned out even better than I had imagined! The thing that I love the most about it is…it is so easy!! I didn't have to go out and buy anything fancy, I had the paint already. 

                                Your supplies:

• Paint
• Water
• Old Washcloth
• Paint Brush

   I wanted to repaint an old house window, however I didn't want to make it look "new". I wanted to make sure that it still had the old, beautiful look but just "cleaned" up a little! The windows were full of dirt so I cleaned them up and and sanded them down a little just so that I knew for sure that the paint would stick! I used a damp washcloth to collect all of the dust from sanding. 

  Here comes the tricky part… You mix a cup of paint and 2 cups of water, stir until well mixed! How tricky is that!! :) You are now ready to paint! I painted each side small sections just to make sure that the paint didn't get absorbed and dry before I had a chance to spread it out with the washcloth. The most important step in white washing is rubbing the washcloth over the painted area to make it look worn. This is where you can get creative. You can have it look more worn in sections vs. other sections. In order to get it to look non-uniform just rub a section harder with your washcloth. Once I finished each section to the desired look I would paint the next section until the window was complete!

  I didn't use painters tape on the window, but you could. I ended up getting the paint on the window, but since it is watered down it practically peels right off. I simply took a paper towel and it wiped right off. But you could tape off the window so that you don't have to worry about clean up. Whichever you prefer! :)

  The greatest part about this project is that from when I started painting until it was dry look 30 minutes!! No waiting for the paint to dry like so many of my other projects where I had to wait over night to see the final product! I was ready to hang this window 30 minutes after starting the project and the best part is…it is BEAUTIFUL! I love it and it looks so nice in our freshly painted entry way!

                                  Here is the window before…(It is the window on the left side) 

                                 Here it is after painting! You can't see the beautiful little details from
                                    white washing in this picture, but it does show that you can clean
                                              up a window without taking away the rustic look!

Enjoy :)