More coats of limewash

Last weekend, I put on a coat of limewash and I also lined up a carpenter to put up crown molding on the ceiling. We had bought some contoured molding that we thought would work for the ceiling, but knew that it would be tough because the angle between the ceiling and walls was not 90 degrees. After I started reading up on how to cut crown molding and make adjustments for angles with inside and outside cuts, I gave up and called in a carpenter to do the work. He immediately suggested simplifying the approach and just use 1x4 boards to allow for fudging things with the weird angles (and also generally not square dimensions of the room). The more rustic approach to using boards actually seemed more in line with the look of the cottage so I went with that approach rather than trying to force the more fancy molding into the room.

The carpenter did the work over the week so I arrived this weekend to check out the molding and start applying another coat of limewash. I also received a yellow batch of limewash that I am going to use on accent pieces of the room. During this weekend, my string of good luck with progress starts hitting some snags. First I apply a 2nd coat of gray limewash to the areas that I missed during the previous week. I also touch up a few areas where I had drips or splatters that I didn’t catch. This goes on OK, but as things dry, I start noticing a very marked difference between last week’s coat and the new coat. The new coat is drying a lot lighter than the previous coat and rather than a mottled appearance, it looks like a distinct repair. I figured I that I was playing with fire because all of the limewash instructions said to maintain a wet edge when applying so it does seem that the wet edge is needed to blend in the different brush strokes.

The extra white parts are where I applied a 2nd coat a week after the initial coat.

While I let the gray dry, I then go to apply the yellow limewash. This brand is different in that the paint is shipped undiluted and they instruct to dilute the limewash with 100 to 200% more water. I try 100% and apply the yellow to some accept pieces in the room (wooden beams and closet). The diluted limewash is hard to brush on because it is basically water and it drips everywhere. After I get a hang of it and get a coat down, it’s impossible to tell anything was applied. Everything still looks white. I then decide to apply the limewash undiluted. This feels more like paint, but again the paint seems to fade immediately after drying.

Starting to get yellow after many more coats of undiluted limewash.

So now both of the limewash coats are not looking great. I read up on the web about feathering limewash and people mentioning using a spray bottle to moisten the limewash and then use a cloth to burnish the surface. I start going over the patchy spots of the gray and it does look like that burnishing does smooth out the 2 distinct layers.

For the yellow, I apply 2 more coats of undiluted limewash for a total of 4 coats, but even with all of that, the yellow is still pretty weak. After futzing around with the paint, I do have some success by finishing stripping most of the baseboards and removing the incorrect sized bullseye rosettes from the windows. But we’re brought back to reality after Karen installs the new light and finds the glass globe’s hole was made too large so it slips off the securing nut and crashes to the floor.

Oops.