Bleed Through: Don’t Fight It – Blend It!
I was going to share the Hepplewhite Dresser with you all today. Â However, this happened ð
Yes, the dreaded “bleed through”.
Actually, it only happened where I had to sand back the drawer fronts and the original reddish wood color bled through.  The reason I had to sand the drawer fronts back is because I decided on adding new drawer pulls.  Hence, I needed to drill new holes/fill in the old with wood filler/sand them back! Whew.
Two coats of Annie Sloan Old Ochre were first applied and that is when the bleed through happened. Â When painting a piece in a light color that has bleed through, it is necessary to apply a coat of shellac over the piece and then paint over it or the bleed through will just continue to pop through.
I decided not to fight it with the shellac and that this was the perfect piece to instead, try to blend it. Â Originally, I had planned on adding a wash of Old White. Â Instead, I used General Finishes Whitewash wood stain with a sponge brush and went over the chalk paint. Â It looked great! It was thicker and did a better job of blending in the bleed through. Â I have never used wood stain over paint before but this seems to have worked. Â I then dry brushed the Old Ochre on top of the Whitewash wood stain. Â I hope you followed along with that very long winded explanation!
I think once you see it, you will understand where I am taking it. Â It is now blended in.
Tomorrow I hope to sand and seal it and have it ready for its glamour shots! Â Here is a sneak peek of the detail. Â Love!
Yesterday, I forgot to share this pic taken over the weekend.  I took my girls to the Selena Gomez concert in DC.  ⥠my girls!
Looks Great! I painted a knotty pine dresser an ivory shade and after it was stripped – used an artist brush to cover each knot two coats and then sanded lightly the gloss, before it was painted. The shellac seals the knots for no bleed through on light colors.
Hi Suzanne, Your solution looks REALLY nice. I’m glad that took care of the bleed through. I have had that problem several times, especially with mahogany/pinkish-toned woods where the original clear coat finish has been worn off. Another thing that works well is Bulls Eye shellac spray (yellow can)……after I paint the first coat and the problem spots appear, I hit those spots with 2 light zaps of spray. They dry quickly. Then I can paint coat #2, usually without any problem. Because the spray is clear, it is easy to distress the edges and have the natural wood tone underneath show through.
Hope this tip will help one of your readers…….
Hi Suzanne, What a happy “accident”. It looks wonderful!
What a cute picture of you and your girls!!!! x
Thanks, Sharon!
Great idea to use that stain as a wash. I’ll have to try that.
Did you then seal it again or leave it? Thanks
I did seal it again with AS clear wax -thanks!