How to get the Look of Wood Grain with Paint

I had been on the hunt for a dining room table for weeks, I wanted to stain the top so that the Wood Grain would show through and then I would paint the base white adding some glaze to it. I stumbled upon one in a consignment store and it was in decent shape, it looked like it had been well used, a few dents and dings (oh and some nail polish) but nothing too terrible. It also had two leaves, a big plus.

Now this table is solid wood and I had the brilliant idea that if I took off the legs I would be able to get it into my car by myself. So that’s what I did, took the legs off and used a hand cart to put it in my car, almost. I wheeled it all the way out to the back of my car, almost go it in, and then I had a bit of a mishap. I had trouble lifting it and dropped it, on its top, after it had slid across the latch on my car. So now my table had huge gashes in it, several in fact. Not to worry though wood filler would fix it. I used a stripped and sanded it down before filing in the gashes. I realized I was out of wood filler so I used something else which it turns out would not take a stain, great. A shortcut which I immediately regretted after my first coat of stain.

I really wanted a nice stained wood grain on the table and there was zero possibility of me getting the other filler product out of my table. I checked my paint stash and decided to try to get a similar result using paint and stain together. I decided to start with a base of Annie Sloan Cocoa Chalk Paint. I put two coats on it with the top open. If your table opens for leaves don’t forget to take this step.

The next step was to add the grain. I used Minwax Dark Roast Wiping Stain. It is a thick gel type stain which makes it easy to get the look I wanted. I put quite a bit on half of the table, let it sit for a few minute and then using a clean lint free rag wiped across the table until I got that wood grain look. This is the first coat of stain.