BUT I JUST MIGHT LOVE WOOD STAIN MORE!
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this latest project. I learned a LOT and have some knowledge (and photographic evidence!) to impart to you all.
In my master bedroom, we have this amazing dark wood trim and our lovely dark wood French doors. This is a terrible "before" picture, because duh my dresser is missing half its drawers and my clothes are dumped on the floor, but you can see how different the wood colors were.
The craziest thing about this dresser is that I scored it from a garage sale over 6 years ago for $3 and it has remain untouched... unpainted... untampered with all this time. Until now!
This dresser was made by hand from some wonderful craftsman, from all real wood, and it's surprisingly light, so I carried it down to my basement and busted out my electric sander, hitting all surface areas.
Then I applied my first coat of "Dark Walnut" Minwax stain...
These sponge brushes are perfect for staining.... I never had to rinse it out and pitched it at the end.
Here you can see two drawers with the stain, compared to untouched wood:
Now here come some tips:
1) WIPE ALL THE STAIN OFF. WIPE IT ALL AWAY. If you leave any excess, it becomes gummy and sticky and tacky and a pain in the ass.
2) Don't think you're being awesome by leaving the stain on the wood for more than 15-20 minutes. It starts to turn gummy and sticky and tacky and it's a pain in the ass!
I just used some old t-shirts, ripped up into smaller rags, to wipe up the excess stain. It reminded me of oil:
With the dresser, I actually followed the directions on the stain can and let it dry for 4-6 hours, then came back in for a second coat. Once that dried, I applied a layer of polyurethane.
The best part of the staining process? It really points out the wood's imperfections. As you can see here, the stain really sunk into the scratches, or anywhere that I sanded extra deep like the edges of the top and drawers. I love this. Love.
Once more, a good idea of before and after. The new color really looks so much better with the trim in the room.
Heck, I even did the knobs:
Okay, sorry for the mess surrounding the dresser. I was too eager to snap a shot and put it on the blog and didn't feel like cleaning.
I truly loved, loved, loved this project, in case you didn't pick up on that. I actually tried staining another dresser but because it was made of some cheap-ass piece of shit "wood," it turned out disastrous... (more on that in a later post). But, for real wood, I give it a thumb's up.
Also, I'm linking up to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday...
Happy Weekend to you all!
that looks really good -i'm like you, i've used spray paint way too many times to count, but i've never stained before -- i think your tutorial is easy enough to follow! i have almost that exact dresser that my great grandma gave to me - and it too sits untouched because i'm afraid of messing it up if i try anything!
ReplyDeleteglad you found my blog - and happy to have found yours too!
It looks great!
ReplyDeleteOMG, it looks great with your trim. Matches so well!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm too chicken to stain. But everyone keeps telling me it's easy. You make it look so simple!!
ReplyDeleteI love the look of a dark stain! I'm about to do this same project with my dining table- I hope it turns out this well :).
ReplyDeleteI am terrified of staining. You did a great job!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous... As usual :).
ReplyDeleteIt looks great! I absolutely hate hate hate stain and I am always jealous of people who can make it look this good and easy!
ReplyDeleteDrew suggested we stain the hope chest that my grandfather made for me. Over. My. Dead. Body.
ReplyDeleteI am curious to see what you do with the ugly ass white dresser we gave you. Because you have to admit. It's pretty fugly.
It looks great! Now I want to go stain something!
ReplyDeleteWow! Very nice! Love the color stain you chose.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to the question you asked on my project, I also used Minwax but in the Red Mahogany color. I also ended up doing 3 coats of poly.
Wow! What a difference! It looks so rich, now. Much better. You did an amazing job on the finish. Well done and thanks for linking up!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you got that dresser for $3! It looks great. I'm totally drooling over those gorgeous french doors in the background too.
ReplyDeleteGreat makeover, especially with the trim around your door.
ReplyDeleteWow, that looks fantastic with your trim!! Great job--I may have to try this now...
ReplyDeleteWhat a difference! I've stained a couple pieces of furniture before too, and there's definitely an art to it. Looks like you're mastering it!
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