How To Get The Bleached Wood Look (without bleach!) (2024)

Ever wondered how you can get that cool bleached wood look?? Well, you can actually bleach your wood…with bleach, or you can do it this way instead!

Hello, there beautiful friends!
I’ve got a fun new post and technique for ya today.

How to get the bleached wood look … without using bleach.

I mean should I even call it bleached wood then?? Of course! Since I am describing the look not the technique, right?
And it is so much easier and much less involved. No laundry bleach or oxalic acid to deal with.
There are other ways of lightening up wood…or ways to make it look as if it is.

I love the look of bleached wood. Bleach wood furniture is pretty timeless I feel. It goes especially well with any farmhouse or coastal-style decor. As a matter of fact, I plan to do some pieces like this for our beach house too.

So in doing a little research on the subject, I found that you actually DO use bleach (regular household bleach as well as some other types of “bleaching agents”) to bleach wood. But yuck, what a mess. I didn’t really want to deal with that. That does not mean that I might get the urge to do it in the future though! lol You just never know with me. Stay tuned.

But right now? Nope, not interested in messing with bleach or similar to get that look.
So, as usual, I am not to be deterred. So I came up with another DIY way.

A much simpler way.

And I’m going to share all the details with you today!

But first, let me remind y’all that today is Trash To Treasure Tuesday, and not only am I sharing my fun new treasure but my friends are too. So be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see their makeovers too!

I should mention that this project is the first piece of my latest haul. OH! I haven’t even shown y’all what I did bring home with me from my latest shopping trip. I’m so bad, sorry! Well, here it is.

Do you recognize any of this from the trip I shared? (linked above)
The table upfront you haven’t seen as I found that on a subsequent trip to the ReStore.
And do you see what I see?? YEP! I brought home the oak table and chairs for $60. How could I not?
Well, in all honesty…I didn’t come home with it…but I did go back for it and thankfully it was still there!! haha

How To Get The Bleached Wood Look (without bleach!)

Now, keep in mind, some woods are darker than others so if you have a darker wood this may not work as well. And with that, it’s important to note that in general, darker woods don’t really bleach up well anyway (with bleach or without). So take note of the color of the wood before you begin.

If you follow along with me on Instagram, you might remember this small desk I found at the ReStore a couple of weeks ago. I shared it in my stories there.

I love making over small wood pieces like this so I snatched it right up. Who am I kidding, I love to make over any piece of furniture!

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it when I saw it.

It was a little rough and a little wonky but not too bad at all.

A screw and some glue on each side and it was good to go.

Luckily, I managed to lightly sand off those marker marks. But the old ink stains (which is what I believe those to be there inside the desk and inside the drawer) would not come out. I didn’t really want to sand the inside all the way down since I planned to stain it dark anyway, so I left them and called it “character”. Part of its antique charm and history.

I began deciding whether or not I would have to (or want to) remove the veneer on the outside and inside.
The inside was already chipped away in spots and more was loose. I chipped away what was loose and decided to use some stainable wood filler.

For the outside, well, I considered trying to glue it back down but in the end, I realized it was probably a little too far gone.

It was just loose all over, top and bottom.

So off it came….slowly.

Most of the upper and lower came off great. I had to resort to a hammer and “chisel” for the inner area.

Then I finished sanding the entire piece. You may need to use a stripper like Citristrip first if your piece of furniture is painted.
I used 60 grit on the front section and 80 on the rest. Then I went back over it all with 150 to smooth it out.
I love my cordless sander but I had to pull out the corded one for this job. Be sure to wipe away all of the dust before you begin the next step.

Here are the links to all the products you’ll need to do this makeover.

Now, let me first say, this process will vary depending on the wood you do it on. Every wood variety has different coloring, etc.
Most woods have an orange-y tone that you want to “bleach” out to get this look. And since we are not bleaching, we will have to get the look in another way.

Step 1

Step one of the other way to achieve a bleached wood look is this…

Apply a water-based stain in an opposing color to get rid of the orange. I am not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I am a trained cosmetologist and still hold my license. It’s been many, many (many) moons since I actually did it for a living (because I still do my own and my family’s hair ;) ). But being a colorist of hair, I was reminded about the color wheel. Green neutralizes red/orange.

So, I pulled out my greenish hued stain that I previously used on this old thrift store basket.
Be sure to wear gloves so you don’t stain your hands too.

I didn’t want my little desk to be green, so I watered it down quite a bit. More of a stain wash.
And I could do that because this is a water-based stain, which I really enjoy using, by the way.

I don’t have an exact water/stain ratio but if I had to guess, I would say somewhere along the lines of 6 to 1. (water to stain) My best advice is to start with the smallest amount and go up from there if needed. And considering that all wood is slightly different in color, etc., I would recommend you do it this way anyway.
If you don’t notice any change, add a little more stain to the water mixture. So on and so forth.

TIP: Keep in mind though, that the change is SUBTLE. So don’t jump to adding more stain if it doesn’t look like it’s enough of a difference in the wood. Give it a chance to dry first, then assess. You don’t want it green (or orange), you want the color canceled out so it looks more bleached.

The desk is drying from the stain while the drawer sitting on top has yet to have it applied.
See the difference?? Very subtle but absolutely successful at removing the orange-y color. And in turn, creating more of a bleached look.

Once it was dry from the water/stain mixture, I went over the whole thing with a 220 sanding block to smooth it out again. The water makes the grain raise so you will need to do this to get a smooth finish.

Step 2

Apply the white wax.

You can see above, the top and side have already had the white wax applied. The front has not.
See the difference?

Not all wood grains have this much texture, so some will pick up more of the white than others.
This little desk had tons, so it grabbed a bunch of that white color.

In this photo above, the side has been waxed, but the top and front have not. See how lightened it up?

I don’t love using wax so much on painted pieces anymore these days (but occasionally will) but I love using wax on natural wood.

For the inside of the desk and drawer, I simply cleaned it up and applied the Java Gel. Once it was dry, I applied a coat of Gel Topcoat with a soft rag.

What a difference!

I absolutely love the contrast of the dark wood inside and the bleached wood on the outside.

See the round ink bottle stain? I think that is most likely what it is. Looks like it to me but who really knows?

And that is it.
A bleached wood look without all the mess… or work! Well, you do have to sand but you’d have to sand either way to get to the bare wood.
No strong chemicals or multiple applications, having to neutralize the bleach, etc.

I’m really thrilled with how it turned out. I can’t wait to try it again on another piece soon.

Up close of the white wax…

Don’t forget to buff that wax to a gorgeous sheen.

Oh, and the hardware I chose to use on it. (it had round wood knobs originally)

Another shot of the inside.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post! It was a fun one to do. I love trying new techniques.
This is something that you can do on furniture or even small wood decor pieces.

Hope you give it a try!

More posts in the “back to basics” series:

• How To Create Faux Verdigris(and video)
• How To Create Faux Patina(and video)
• How To Dry Brush
• 26 Different Types of Chalk Style Paint
• Pros and Cons of Chalk Paint For Furniture
• 5 Top Ways To Seal Chalk Paint
• How To Transfer Images
• How To Import Images Into Silhouette
• How To Restain Wood Without Stripping
• How To Use Gel Stain
• How To Bleach Wood

PIN it to save it!

Don’t go just yet! Take a look at my friends’ makeovers now. The link to each project is below the photo.

1. Salvaged Inspirations
2. Prodigal Pieces
3. Confessions of a Serial Do It Yourselfer
4. Girl in the Garage

Want to see even more from the Trash To Treasure girls? Check them out right >>> here.

If you decide to give this bleached wood hack a try, send me a picture of your project, I’d love to see it! :)

If you missed any of the thrifty haul #3 makeovers, you can see them all here:

• Bleached Wood Desk Makeover(you are here!)
• Painted Ceramic Vase Makeover
• Navy Blue Coffee Table Makeover
• Thrifted Basket Makeover Ideas
• Etched Glass Whitewashed Box

I’ll be sharing this next!

Update!!! See it now, here!

Have a wonderful week, friends!

xoxo