Scrubbed pine is pine furniture with a bare, pale and dry surface produced by years of regular scrubbing with water, soap or soda rather than polishing. The finish has a soft, velvety texture, with the harder grain standing slightly proud of the softer wood between it, and is most associated with kitchen tables, dressers, benches and dairy and pantry furniture.
In eighteenth and nineteenth-century country houses, farmhouses and cottages, much utilitarian furniture was made of deal or pine and either painted or left unfinished. Table tops and work surfaces were scrubbed daily to keep them clean, building up the distinctive bleached appearance now prized by collectors, while the bases were often painted. Scrubbed pine should be distinguished from stripped pine, where original paint has been removed by caustic dipping, a process popular from the 1970s that can raise the grain, loosen joints and leave an orange tone. Genuine scrubbed surfaces show uneven wear, softened edges and an even pale colour. In interiors today scrubbed pine is valued for its relaxed, honest country character, and it can be maintained with occasional gentle washing and thorough drying, avoiding oils and wax.
