I would be curious what would paint with glazing compound could do here. It would involve sanding just a little bit, to rough up the surface, and then go over with a brush white paint that's mixed with a glazing compound and then wiping it off after it's sat for a couple minutes, like staining. I would think that the liming wax would only work on a completely sanded surface.

@Aggie do you have a glazing compound brand you prefer? Is it expensive? I don't mind to just "rough up the surface" - I just REALLY don't wanna do a full sand.

I've used what a paint store has in stock at the time, it's not expensive usually, sorry I called it glazing compound, it's rather a "glaze" or a "glazing medium", they usually come in quarts and a good paint store will always carry it.

Oh I'm sorry but we just ended up paying someone to paint it. It was the last of our "major" things we wanted done and we were just ready to be done with it so I gave up on the idea. It does look better painted though!

Liming wax works on woods with open grain and won't work on pine.

Use a glaze or thinned paint but I hate whitewash and just do not get it? It looks like you didnt finish painting and need additional coats.

Make sure that you do a test for whatever finish you end up applying. In my experience with older "varnish" type finishes you can get some pretty severe cracking or hazing in the surface after the top coat has dried. This is because the new top coats can shrink while drying and pull the the lower surface apart. It is the same look as you can see on older painted furniture. See image.

If you or your painter are confident enough to do it you can do an overspray of lacquer - similar to what is put onto kitchen cabinets to shade them- to get the see through look of a white wash over pine.

definitely, paint over the knotty pine, i have not seen it in use prior to the war, and its introduction is connected to events with the war ... notably the deliberate sabotage and destruction of plantations and wooded areas with the species and varieties that were in use ... in my experience with "knotty pine", i have nothing good to say about it ... as a floorboard material, it is too soft, too porous, and retains too much moisture and damp, it splinters easily and the ugly knotty patches can be so "rotted" as to fall out and separate from the wood, creating huge holes in the floorboards in which insects, redback spiders, snakes and mice can crawl into and into the house ... as a wall material for paneling it is unsightly and has poor acoustic qualities ... i once purchased matches labeled as "made in indonesia" (in red, black and gold homebrand box from coles or woolworths) and the matches were a dark yellow color, identical in look, color, and feel as this "knotty pine" and each time i struck a match, i had to be careful because every second match would break in half and the lit part and the top half of the match-stick would fly off into the room, potentially setting the place on fire ...