How to Hide Wood Grain when Painting Oak

Welcome to week 3 of the $100 Room Challenge. This week’s project was updating our oak vanities. The problem with oak is it has a very deep wood grain that will show through, even after painting. Because I was using chalk paint and wax, I didn’t want the wax settling into the grain, so I had to figure out how to hide the wood grain. After doing a little research, here’s what I ended up doing to hide the grain on our oak vanities prior to painting.

 

Our house was built in the early 90s and it shows. Literally every vanity and cabinet is made from orangey oak. Not my favorite look. When deciding to makeover our bathroom, I knew I wanted to tackle the oak vanities, but unlike the vanity I painted for our downstairs bathroom (a dark Hale Navy color which tends to do well hiding the grain), I wanted to paint these vanities with chalk paint and wax to created a weathered wood look. I knew I had to hide the wood grain prior to painting or the wax would settle into the crevices and look terrible. So… here’s what I did to hide the wood grain on our oak vanities prior to painting them.

What You Need To Hide Wood Grain Before Painting

 

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Items Needed to Fill the Wood Grain

• Joint Compound– I read about others using spackle instead of joint compound. I did a little research and found that spackle and joint compound are very similar. However, joint compound dries slower (which I wanted for this project) and it can also shrink a bit more, which didn’t bother me… plus I already had joint compound and didn’t want to spend money on spackle.
• Putty Knife
• High Grit Sandpaper– Both a 180 and a 220 grit sandpaper are used for this project
• Microfiber Dusting Cloth
• Vinyl Gloves (or similar)
• Dust Mask
• Protective Goggles

Items Needed for Painting & Waxing

• Primer– A water based primer is fine for this project. I used Zinsser Bulls Eye 1 2 3.
• Small Foam Roller
• Chalk Paint– I used Behr Chalk Decorative Paint in Pale Sepia. I have used Annie Sloan in Coco to do the weathered wood technique in the past, but it’s a more expensive brand.
• Paint Brush– This one is my favorite for use on furniture! I know it’s spendy, but it’s totally worth it.
• Dark Wax– I used Annie Sloan for this because I already had some on hand
• Old T-Shirt or Lint-Free Towel

How to Hide Wood Grain When Painting Oak

This project is, admittedly, a little time consuming, but it is so worth it in the end. Before getting started, remove the doors and drawer fronts from the vanity (or cabinets), along with the hardware. Label each piece (and the hardware that goes with it) to ensure everything gets put back in the correct place.

Step 1: Clean the Doors & Drawers Fronts

Whether or not you see visible dirt and grime on the wood, give them a good cleaning. I typically use TSP, but I guess I got lazy and just used some soapy water and a soft bristle brush. After a good scrubbing, dry things off with a flour sack cloth (or something similar).

 

Step 2: Apply Joint Compound

Grab a putty knife and apply joint compound over the entire surface that is going to be painted. Spreading joint compound is a lot like spreading frosting… only don’t eat it 🙂 “Frost” your wood surface with a scoop of joint compound, spreading it evenly across the wood, and then glide the putty knife over the area to remove any excess. This process fills in the small niches in the wood grain. Please note that you want just a thin layer of joint compound, otherwise there will be a lot more sanding in the future.

 

If you have trim work (like I did), the putty knife does not work well. Instead, grab a vinyl glove and apply the joint compound using your gloved fingers, smearing it into the seams. My one piece of advice is to try to get the thinnest layer possible, otherwise, like I said, there’s a lot more sanding involved.

 

Once the entire surface is covered and the excess removed, allow the joint compound to thoroughly dry.

Step 3: Sand

I’m not gonna lie… this part is the worst. It’s time-consuming and dusty, so please wear a dust mask and safety goggles because you don’t want to breath in dust nor get it in your eyes… and sand outdoors if possible.

Use a high grit sandpaper and sand off the joint compound until you get a smooth surface. While the image shows a 220 grit, I ended up switching to a 180 grit which worked a bit better. I ran my hand over everything to make sure there were no rough patches before moving on. Notice how the joint compound settled into the wood grain? That’s what you want to see.

 

Step 4: Dust

Dust all the sanded surfaces to ensure that your paint goes on smoothly. Start by vacuuming up the loose dust and then go over everything with a microfiber dusting cloth to remove even more.

 

Step 5: Apply Primer

The last step is to apply a coat of primer with a foam roller. While chalk paint typically doesn’t need sanding, nor priming, prior to application, when trying to hide wood grain, a coat of primer will help to further fill in the grain.

 

After the primer is dry, lightly sand it with a 220 grit sandpaper. This helps create a smooth surface.

You have now filled in the wood grain so it won’t show when you paint. YAY!

I don’t want to be redundant, so if you are interested in the painting technique used on this vanity, there is a full tutorial on how to create a weathered wood look with chalk paint and wax already on this blog. While it was done on a table, I did the same technique to our bathroom vanity. For a quick peek, you can check out the image below.

 

While not the most attractive picture, here are a couple close-ups of the vanity with two coats of chalk paint. As you can see… no wood grain is showing.

 

Here is the final result of this vanity makeover!

 

And… as a reminder of where we started vs where we ended up…

 

There you go. That’s how you hide wood grain when painting oak (or any other wood surface with a deeper grain)!

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In Other News…

Not only did I work on the vanities, I also painted my accent wall… Remember, I was debating whether to actually do black or switch to a dark blue? Well… the paint is on the wall, and I’m going to wait until the reveal next week to show you what we ended up with… Ahhh, the suspense.

I feel like I have a million more things to do by next week… Wish me luck!

Budget… So Far

Last week I had spent $5.78. Here’s the total for this week…

Vanity Makeover: $19.98

• Joint Compound- FREE (Already had)
• Chalk Paint- $19.98
• Wax- FREE (Already had)
• Supplies (Sandpaper, Paintbrushes, etc)- FREE (Already had)

Accent Wall: FREE

• Paint (Already had on hand)

Total So Far: $25.76

Wanna Catch Up or Jump Ahead?

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

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