Wood gives beautiful warmth to any space. In our house we had wanted to use mostly natural or hand-finished products (avoiding plastics and other synthetic materials) with wood being a central focus. Our old house, although full of grand and beautiful woodwork, had been very dark with mostly mahogany, ebony or cherry stained wood. We wanted our new house to be altogether lighter – more windows, light woods, white walls. We had spent a considerable amount of time researching which woods we liked best (and were also available locally). In the end we chose three main woods for our house: Douglas fir, white pine, and white oak.
In designing the house, one feature we continued to come back to was a wood ceiling. As we were having concrete floors, wood on the ceiling, we felt, would warm the space nicely (drywalled ceilings and walls with a concrete floor seemed far too cold). And honestly, who doesn’t love a great wood ceiling?
The one major downside of pine, although it looks pink and white when it is freshly cut and milled, is that it yellows terribly with exposure to sunlight and over time. Indeed, all light woods will yellow to some degree, but pine is one of the worst for this (even white pine vs. yellow pine). Sure some people like that look, but not me. I prefer the fresh “untreated” look of the wood – but how does one preserve this appearance?
Being a bit of a Pinterest junkie while planning the house, we had found a lot of inspiration from Scandinavian cottages and cabins (leave it to them to have the coolest stuff). Many of which had beautiful light woods running through the house – woods that were white, pink or creamy browns – but not yellow. How do these Scandinavians do it?! Tell me your secrets!
But try as I might, I just couldn’t seem to find any information about it.
I briefly read a bit about the North American (read: ugly) way of “white-washing” wood. Which involves basically watering down white paint and then painting it on. It really looks as good as you might expect, which is really not good at all.
One day, though, as I was looking through articles about this house, I came across a tutorial they had written for Remodelista on called “101: Easy Whitewashed Scandi Floors” (admittedly the terrible title was less than appealing and I almost skipped past it).
“First, we applied a coat of Woca Wood Lye to bleach the boards”
Eureka! That was the secret I’d been waiting for!!
Where to find this magical product and how to get my hands on it was the next question.
After much searching, I eventually came across Woca Direct, who supplied Woca Wood products from Denmark to us lowly North Americans. And there it was: Woca Wood Lye (Picture: the heavens opening and the angel singing)…
WOCA Wood Lye is a mild, non-corrosive form of bleach, which may be used whenever a whitewashed or driftwood appearance is desired… Wood lye bleaches the wood and prevents the yellowing process of the wood.
I immediately ordered a tonne of this stuff, as well as the natural soap in white (which is used to clean the wood after treatment to reinforce it or as the Mjolk folks did, as your actual finish), the wood cleaner, and the master oil in white, which is what we intended to use as our finish coat.
I made up a test piece of white pine using the Lye, Lye with White Oil, and No treatment and left it out in the sun for a couple weeks to see how the colour changed.
I was as impressed as I had hoped I’d be with the change that the Lye made. Within moments of applying it the wood lightened, highlighting the pinks, whites, and browns of the wood. After leaving it for two weeks, you could already see the untreated pine (to the far right to the photo) turning yellow. The Lye and Lye with oil (on the left and middle) did not fade or yellow at all. I found that the White Oil really didn’t change the colour of the wood further, but simply helped to smooth out the grain and give a nice hand to the wood.
During the summer, while the house was still at the framing stage, we and our amazingly awesome neighbour spent the weekend treating the tongue and groove pine (by the way, we ended up choosing 1×6″ tongue and groove over the narrower 1×4″. Less lines with the wide planks looked more modern and attractive then the narrower stuff, in my opinion).
As was recommended, we first cleaned each board, as they were pretty dirty from the drive out on our gravel road, with the Wood Cleaner.
After drying for a couple days, we began the Wood Lye application (photo) with a simple nylon brush. It is pretty watery stuff so it goes on fairly easily, but you have to make sure you cover the boards fully as any areas that you miss would yellow in time. The wood lye dries quickly within an hour so we were able to get a good system going with two of us applying the Lye and my wife oiling the boards after a minimum hour of drying.
The oiling process was quite lovely. We simply used a cotton rag and hand rubbed each board. The finish it gave was beautiful. The process was lengthy though from start to finish, probably in the range of 30 hours for the 900 sq. ft. of pine.
It would still be a couple months before we would eventually be able to install this stuff (this is the beauty of having a big shop to store all of this stuff in – highly recommended). But after the nightmare of the concrete floor finishing, we were excited to finally be able to have some pleasure in seeing the ceiling installed.
Both myself and my good friend (who will be doing our cabinetry, stairs, window sills and doors, and runs Rhine Artisans) highly underestimated the time it would take to install the ceiling though… we naively thought, a day, maybe. Well it would be four full days total to complete the work, largely due to the precise cutting required around the light boxes (our fixtures had less than 1/8″ of clearance around the 4″ round boxes) and the hand planing required at the ends of the walls and hallways (apparently drywall isn’t straight, who knew).
But, in my humblest of opinions, this looks damn sexy…
Blue Heron EcoHaus 
Hi! I have a question – When you applied the Woca Lye did the boards turn yellow upon application? We used Woca Lye on white pine and upon application the floors turned yellow. After buffing the boards they now have a yellow tinge not a white look at all. Your photos appear to be quite white with some pink and grey hues.
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No they did not turn yellow at all. It was almost immediate that they turned more white. We used white pine wood, mind you. I wonder if you used yellow pine? The woca lye does “enhance” the natural colors of the wood so if you used yellow pine I would not be surprised if this became more distinct. I’d make up test piece on yellow pine and white pine and see the difference.
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Hi! Do you use the natural soap after the master oil has been applied to the floor? Thank you.
Lia
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Hi Lia, no we simply used the master oil. The natural soap is used to clean the oiled wood when dirty. It can be alternately used as a finishing product itself, after the lye, for a slightly different finish to the wood. Although you do have to use the soap for several passes to protect the wood and prevent tarnishing or staining. The oil is simpler to use with only two coats required.
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Thank you.
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Hi.
I noticed that the Mjolk Douglas Fir image shows the wood to be less white (or more natural in colour) than the image of the two pine boards. Why is that the case? Have they both been given the same treatment? Is the difference attributed to the age difference or the wood variety. Thanks. M
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It’s do to the difference in the wood. We used the wood lye and master white oil on white pine. Mjolk used wood lye and natural soap on Douglas fir. The master white oil does give the wood a little more of a whiter finish- but it is very subtle. We only applied one coat of the oil to the white pine- multiple coats would give a whiter shade.
That being said, the main difference is the wood variety. The wood lye enhances the natural color of the wood and removes the factors in the wood that cause yellowing over time (although wood will always change slightly overtime).
Douglas fir’s natural color has a distinct pinkish color with some light brown and white. Whereas, white pine is much more (not surprising) white and cream tones with some very light pink and brown.
While white oak is much more a creamy brown tone.
We used all of these woods in our house and treated each with wood lye and master white oil. They are all distinctly different, as I’ve described above, but all look very good together.
One other thing to consider too is the cut of the wood – Douglas fir “plain sawn” has a bolder more open grain (the white color) then “rift sawn” which has a tighter grain and will be pinker.
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Hi Kent. Thanks for the reply.
Do you wash the floors weekly with the Woca soap product? I was told that would be necessary, even if the oil has been used to finish.
Any chance you could supply photos of all three woods installed in your home, to get an accurate comparison. M
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The white pine is on the ceiling so I have yet to walk on it! 😉 But we did put Douglas fir on the stairs and treated it in the same way. We’ve been using it for 4 months and I haven’t done anything except to vacuum dog hair off. We haven’t need to clean them with the soap. The stairs are showing no signs of discoloration or dirtiness. Mind you we are either in bare feet or socks in the house so maybe if you wore shoes on the wood it would get dirty? I’m not sure what kind of space require weekly washing of the floors with soap aside from some commercial space where people are wearing outdoor footwear inside…
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And yes, I’ll write a post and include some pictures of the wood work for comparison in the next couple weeks. Keep your eyes peeled for it!
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Thank you, this is very helpful. Question: how come you didn’t use a water-based finish after the lye? I would be nervous of the oil pulling amber or pink.
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Truthfully I just like an oiled hand to wood. The oil didn’t appear to change the color of the wood but simply gave a protective layer. Some people do you a “soap” finish which is also very nice. The woca website shows their full product range – in not sure that they have water based products aside from the soap.
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Hi! I thought I posted a question earlier, but maybe it didn’t post. I wanted to know why you used the wood oil (white) and not a clear water based finish overtop of the Woca Wood Lye.
After reading your blog, I ordered the Woca Wood Lye White and the Master Floor Oil White. I spoke to the company over the phone to ask them if I can just omit the oil and use a water-based finish (as the water-based won’t pull amber or red out of the wood–btw, I’m using Northeastern white pine). What they told me over the phone was that I shouldn’t be using the Woca Wood Lye for the effect I’m going for (the effect being the same as what you’ve accomplished). They said I should use Soft Wood Lye. Is that what you used? It doesn’t seem like it from your blog, but you also don’t specify “white” for the type of Wood Lye you used. Please advise!
And their answer to my question re: water-based vs oil was, use water-based or oil-based for the Wood Lye, but only oil-based for the Soft Wood Lye. The Soft Wood Lye has an actual bleaching component. The Wood Lye has a milder such effect and contains pigment.
Thanks!! Beautiful ceiling!
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Hi – yes I just replied to your comment today! I just checked back on the Woca website. The “softwood lye” was not a product they carried when we ordered before. We used the “wood lye white” with the “master floor oil white.” For our ceilings, trim and doors. It turned out for us.
I wonder if you could order a small sample of each the softwood lye and the white wood lye. Treat a board, leave it out for a couple weeks and see how the sun changes it. They sound pretty similar to me. Let me know how it goes!
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Thanks for the responses! I did end up sampling all combinations. The Soft Wood Lye was pretty bad, it somehow gave the pine a greenish color. I liked the Wood Lye (white) the best, both with and without the wood oil. We begin this project in a couple of weeks. I’m excited!
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That’s great. Sounds like it will turn out nicely.
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This is amazing!!!!!!! I’ve been looking everywhere for how to accomplish this – thank you SO MUCH for sharing!
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You’re welcome!
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Hi Kent,
Great idea. We are thinking of doing the same to our ceiling. Did you have the white pine custom milled, or is it similar to what might be found at a Lowe’s of Home Depot?
Thanks!
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Hi Jason – we bought the 1×6 T&g pine that we used on the ceiling from a local mill workshop. It was a bit more pricy then from the big box hardware shops – but comparing the quality was like night and day – it was worth the higher price.
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Hi, your woodwork is lovely. I have a pine ceiling which has yellowed over 13 years. I remember it being so pretty when new, but don’t know what kind of pine it is. Do you think there is a chance the woca whites will draw the yellow out and restore it back to its original beauty? Also, the builder put a light skim coat of finish on it leaving it porous. Not sure how to manage that.
Thanks!
Wendy
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That might be tricky. You’d definitely need to sand down the wood to bring back the original grain and then stain with the lye. Might be fairly labor intensive but it’s likely possible. If you had an inconspicuous place that you could test it first then that might be best. I’d also suggest you email the woca company. Their customer service was really helpful for us. Good luck.
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Thanks for the clarification on the white pine vs. yellow pine. I did a sample piece years ago with Tripp Trapp products and the result was alarmingly yellow. I just used a scrap piece of 2×4 that must have been yellow pine.
I lived in a 100-year-old house in Denmark 20 years ago that had pine floors with a lye soap finish. We were renovating and the entry hall got a lot of traffic and dust and dirt for a few months. The floor got really dirty but all it took was one mopping with soap flakes in water and it was clean and pale again. I will never forget the pine floors in Kronborg Castle that are hundreds of years old and look beautiful–never sanded, just washed regularly. They get a lot of foot traffic and it rains there more days than not so mud does get tracked in. I think if you remove shoes at the door, you can get by with only occasional moppings.
I miss my Danish floor a LOT. It felt so good under bare feet.
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Thank you Kent!
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Hello Kent
Are the pine t and g boards you used for the ceiling v grooved or square edged?
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They are v grooved
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Hi Kent,
We are trying to do our ceilings (3000 sqft) with Gorman elite v-joint pine board bought from Kilrich. Likely Lodgepole pine – is that the same species you used? Looks quite white when new but worried it could still turn yellow…?
Thanks for this great article!
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We used white pine. I couldn’t tell you the species except that it’s not “knotty pine.” Ours was white with hues of pink, light yellow and faint brown tones too. I did a comparison on a single board where I left one untreated and then one treated with lye. I left the board in direct sunlight for several weeks. The untreated side yellowed significantly while the treated side was unchanged. From what I know, with my father in the woodworking business for decades, is that all light woods- fir, pine, spruce- will yellow with time. Unless you treat it with something that removes the yellowing agents- the only thing that does that, that I’m aware of, is wood lye.
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How much of each product did it take to do your 900 sq feet? Thanks!
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I cannot remember. I believe it was quite close to what they recommend coverage area as on the Woca website
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Hi Kent,
Great post! We recently installed a brand new yellow knotty pine floor. I read your review of woca and ordered white Lye and active diamond oil in white. I also ordered wood cleaner for the in between (after lye).
The morning after applying the white diamond active oil the floor was still drying but the color was very very white and almost looked like “sick floor) it was yesterday so we are still waiting for the floor to be completely dry. Will you recommend to polish/lightly sand it???
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Hi Sam, we applied the wood lye and then the white oil. We didn’t use the “active diamond” oil though. We used the white Master Floor Oil. I just looked it up and it appears the difference is that active diamond is for use with a floor machine? Did you use white or “extra white”? I’m not sure if using a machine would change the color penetration or not. We applied by hand. Did you wipe off the excess oil with a dry rag after? If not, this would leave quite a bit of white oil simply sitting on top of the wood. If you did all this then I think it may just need to dry for a few days. Then lightly sand it too smooth the wood grain. This should bring some color back. Because yours is on the floor versus the ceiling the color will still change over time from the sunlight. That’s the best I can offer! Hope it helps
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Hi, thanks for the info. I have a few questions. Can this technique be used with good results on birch and oak parquet? If not, I was thinking of replacing the parquet with pine. Can I treat it after it’s been installed or do recommend bleaching and oiling it first? Also, is there a big difference in results with yellow pine and douglas fir? Thanks.
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Hi- is the parquet new flooring? If so, this works on all woods with varying effects. We applied the finish before we installed basically so we didn’t have to get scaffolding and be working on the ceiling all day. Much easier at waist height. Also less mess.
All woods will have a different result do the unique characteristics of the wood. We used the same technique for pine, Douglas fir and white ok. They all look great. I’d suggest getting a samples of wood and the lye and oil and make
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And make up some samples for yourself. That’s what I did. Make up a couple more that are untreated in the same wood. And others using some other product. Leave them somewhere in your house you will get lots of sun for a few weeks and see how the color changes.
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I am a novice, and this is all new to me, but I am wondering if there is any problem sawing into the boards. Will that area turn yellow? Do all boards need to be precut before the treatment? Also, is white pine more difficult to buy than yellow pine?
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No just the face of the boards need the lye and oil treatment. If it was exposed to moisture or outdoors then stain should be applied to all 6 sides. Indoors, you just need to do the viewing side
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Brilliant! This blog is the only one that finally gave me the pine coloration I wanted. I’m a fan of Woca.
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How has this held up over the years? Any yellowing or staying true to the pale white?
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It’s stayed essentially the same. I have not noticed any change, no yellowing. It’s remained that pale white hue. I’m happy with it still
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What an inspiration!
Absolutely stunning.
We purchased a lake home a couple years ago and utilized your techniques on our project.
Some of the existing ceilings were bare pine that had ambered significantly and some ceilings had oil based polyurethane on them that had also ambered.
My wife and I applied woca lye over all ceilings and the difference was night and day,
However, where the ceilings were poly’d, the product required some coaxing.
We also replaced all of the trim and baseboard with quarter sawn white oak and applied the lye and woca oil.
Stunning.
It is very labor intensive but the end product was worth it.
Thanks again for your blog
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Wonderful to hear! Glad you were happy with your outcome.
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Can you post of a picture of how it looks today in 2021?
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We sold the house this past Spring so I cannot however it essentially looked exactly the same as it did at the beginning. I’d use this product and process again on another project. It’s held up really well
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Hi, I would like to use your technic on my timbers for the timberframe house and for T&G ceiling. Should I sand the timbers before applying the Lye and then the Soap? Is it soap AND white pigmented oil or soap OR oil. Thank you so much for your help!! very appreciated!
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I don’t think sanding is required beforehand but could be helpful. Apply lye first. Then soap or while oil. Not both
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After oiling do you remember how long you let it dry before stacking it back into a unit. I’m trying to get this look, but wondering if I stack the pine within a couple hours of oiling if it will be ok?
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We stacked them with spacers in between so that the oil was not in contact with anything. You should let it dry for a day at least
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Great read. Doing a pine ceiling and wondering if you could just do the lye without the second step. Thanks for this.
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Probably but it would have a raised grain and wouldn’t be sealed from the environment. You’re not likely to spill on the ceiling- but we did have a blender explode once and sprayed the ceiling with blueberry smoothie… but was able to wipe it off
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