Liming - The Framing Process

What even is liming? Traditionally, it’s the process of treating buildings with lime to preserve wood and walls. It wasn’t until the 17th Century that it began to be used for decorative means on furniture - in our modern day, it’s now increasingly popular as it adds a layer of protection and interest in your home.

I fell in love with lime-washed furniture at first sight! I’m a huge lover of modern rustic, japandi and cottage-core interior décor - all of which are strongly based on natural elements within the home.

Deciding to try out my own lime-washing was simply just the next exciting step in my small business! It’s also SUPER easy to do - I’ve done all the research, so you don’t have to!

Liming will achieve a different effect depending on the wood type you use it on - ash is a much paler grain than oak, so when liming it will appear much more white.

Traditionally, you can lime-wash using a liquid mixture of Plaster of Paris and water, or you can buy Liming Waxes which are a much less messy option.

How to Lime Wash (also known as liming or Whitewashing)

Start by preparing your wood for treatment. If it has a varnish or stain on it, sand this away down to the wood grain so you are starting from scratch.

If you’re starting from a natural wood, you can skip sanding if you’re confident that the surface you are working on is smooth. However, you may want to use a wire brush to open up the grain of the wood to ensure that you get a more prominent finish with the lime.

Then, you want to remove all dust from the wood by hoovering it, and wiping it down with a damp cloth. You can do this with white spirits to clean the wood too.

To bring out the best colour in the wood, you can apply a light layer of shellac varnish before liming. To do this, mix 1/2 measure shellac varnish with 1/2 white spirits, and glide a cotton cloth over the wood to create a light seal. You don’t need to do this heavily, as you want the lime to be able to get into the deep grains of the wood. This should dry fairly quickly once done do you can begin your liming almost immediately after.

Next, you want to take a hessian cloth, and begin working your liming medium into the grain. Don’t worry about being generous with the lime! You want to really push it into the open grain of the wood and coat the surface. Work in circles to ensure your wood is completely treated.

Keep going over your entire wood surface until you’re satisfied that the lime has been worked into all corners and open grains. Take a second piece of clean hessian, and run back over your wood in circles to remove any additional residue.

And, that’s it! You can choose to varnish or stain the lime wash once dry, as this will extend the life of your new look but this can alter the visual effect of your limewashing depending on the style of stain you go for.

I love to lime-wash my frames for prints and other art pieces! You can find all my original artworks, fine art prints and greeting cards available for framing in my shop! I can thoroughly recommend giving lime washing a go - just open all your windows if you do it indoors as it can get quite smelly!

Get your DIY on and have fun!(A If you give it a go yourself, I’d love to know how you get ojnWF).