Liming Wax 101

I've been wanting to try Brimax's Liming Wax for awhile now. It promises to give an aged, whitewashed, "Restoration Hardware" look...without the hassle of the 1/2 paint, 1/2 water whitewash technique. All my searching online only brought up images of the wax used on lighter wood and not the darker stained table I was wanting to use it on. In the end, I decided to just go with it (and am now spreading it on everything I can get my hands on)...here's a few tips:

Liming wax is a smooth, white paste. It can be applied to bare wood, as well as stained and sealed wood. It works best when the paste can get into the grain, so some roughing up might be in order. Here's a before pic of the table I used it on. It had a good coat of gloss or poly on it, so I went over it with a sandpaper block. I also used a wire brush in a few areas to open up the grain and cracks.

Here is is halfway through. You can see how the liming wax is getting down into the grain and providing a whitewashed look to other areas.

The contrast of the limed top to the bottom.

Here's the finished top. There's one spot over on the right I want to add more to. They suggest putting a coat of clear wax on to seal it. I started to use my Annie Sloan Clear Wax and it acted almost like an eraser. So, I stopped.

I'm loving the driftwood, whitewashed new look it gives to the table. It took like 30 min. and I barely used any wax (it's a little pricey at $20/can. But, I barely put a dent in it).

Liming Wax 101

Then, I got this crazed look in my eye...what else could I put this magic paste on? We've had the table below for too long now. It's a simple coffee table on steel, hairpin legs. We've brought him to numerous shows, but alas, nobody wants to take him home.

Here's the top after a coat of liming wax and some of Annie Sloan's clear wax. What a difference! The white wax got down into some deep holes and cracks and the clear wax took away some of the hard edge of the liming wax. Leaving a lovely aged piece.

I would love to know...what do you think of the liming wax look? Would you try it?