What to Do When Stain Is Too Red

Below is a real "honey laurel letter" from a reader whose pine wood stain color took on a scarlet hue after he refurbished the woods with polyurethane.

Honey Laurel,

I thoroughly enjoy your blog and think you lot give spot-on advice every time;  it'southward a fun read as well.

Here'due south my problem and I don't know if you lot can help or not. We just bought a beautiful mid-century home in Irvington, with stunning, pine woods-paneled ceilings.

Nosotros added a polyurethane in a satin finish to the forest every bit it was starting to look rather exhausted.

Merely now it has a more than cherry tone than I adopt a stained pine forest to take. I can alive with it, but I am hoping to cull a wall paint colour that will minimize the red in the woods stain color.

Practice I get warmer on that colour? That is, stay closer to the cherry-red on the colour wheel? Or should it be cooler, like a bluish tone?

My first instinct is to do a deep navy, but I'k thinking maybe that will just make the ceiling wood redder? Now I'thou contemplating a warm grey. I'yard just so confused, and need to be pointed in the right direction.

Thanks,
Jay

I wish that someone would point me in the correct direction too! haha. Not to minimize Jay'due south dilemma.

It always makes me feel desperately, simply I had to tell Jay that I'grand not doing consultations and tin can't give him communication via email. But I exercise try to answer everyone and this was my advice.

I am wondering if there's a mode to tone downward the red in the wood. That would be get-go on my list to investigate. So, I would piece of work with a designer who specializes in color for a color consult.

That beginning line has been percolating in my head. And that's because getting the colour of the stain to exist what we want it to exist is a crap-shoot at all-time. And that's fifty-fifty with samples. Information technology'due south not an exact science by any ways.

In addition, Jay's ceiling is pino and that is known to be a difficult wood to deal with. Here is a fabulous commodity that explains the technique for getting a stain on pine to continue evenly.

But this isn't going to assist Jay or anyone who might want to tweak a forest stain colour that turned out besides red, ashy, light, orangish…

If it'due south too dark, yous're out of luck. That one is a do-over.

Withal, if your color needs correcting and/or darkening there are a few things one tin can do to ready it and some of them don't require removal of either the existing poly or stain.

How does that sound?

Well Laurel, what about just keeping it equally is and using a wall color that will make the reddish in the woods less noticeable?

Yes, good question. This is i of my favorite posts virtually what colors look swell with stained wood trim.

And some other great post too about stained wood trim.

However, while I think that it'due south possible to minimize the carmine in the woods tone to some extent with a wall colour,  the red tone may still reverberate some into the room. That might not be so good.

You lot know the erstwhile expression, putting proficient money subsequently bad? It'south often best to set the thing that's wrong even if it costs a few dollars to do so.

I realize, though, that it's a lot easier to endeavour to make what's in that location work.

However, I beloved the thought of creating a new woods stain color without totally having to refinish it, downwardly to the bare forest.

Just first, in regards to Jay's home, 99% of the fourth dimension, when I call up of mid-century modernistic and a wood ceiling, I think of white walls. In fact, my mom and step-dad built in 1980, a beautiful contemporary home with lofty stained pino-woods ceilings that were similar to the ceiling in the image below.

All of their walls were painted a soft white.

Birmingham Home and Garden

Flat Therapy

This is really a 100-year-old home that feels contemporary with its wood stained trim and white walls

Okay, here'due south the bargain with irresolute the wood stain color.

And y'all already know what it is.

The wood is stained AND has a coating that's intended to seal it (the polyurethane) and make information technology impervious to being re-stained.

Drat!

If Jay were doing this project from the beginning, I would've recommend that he make some samples mimicking every bit closely as possible with what is there, to come across what looks the best.

Same sitch with the impending wall colors. :]

Anything that is used of class, will need to be able to proceed top of the existing polyurethane. Well, duh.

Of course, information technology needs to stay put.

Hither'due south idea number one to fix the stained wood color.

Utilise another coat of poly that'southward tinted to minimize the red.

Minwax makes a product that is exactly that, called Polyshades. The name gives it away. It's polyurethane and stain, all in one product.

Here is a link to a video which shows how Polyshades is done on a chair. I wish that they had used a lighter color, or showed how ane coat looks. But it'll give you an idea.

Past the mode, Minwax does not recommend using Polyshades on floors, just they practice have some other product, called Ane-Step which is for floors. I don't know what the deviation is.

Polyshades comes in a bunch of unlike colors, just what if none of the colors practice what nosotros want information technology to do? In this instance, we desire to remove some of the scarlet. And the manner to do that is to add a tint of dark-green or maybe a raw umber.

Here is an article that explains how to tint polyurethane. It does require some experimentation.

Here are two brands of universal colorants that i can add to Polyurethane and other finishes to tint them. They each have numerous colors.

Ane make is called Chromaflo

Another brand is called Mixol

So, let'southward say that your woods is super orange-y. To knock that orange dorsum, I would try a blue or a blueish-green. It probably won't take a lot. It's a lot like putting a coat on one'southward hair, for those of you who do that. :]

I found this interesting chart and I tried and tried to discover the original source. Information technology is not wood arts and crafts industries. That website is something entirely different now. Simply what'south interesting is that these are all stains over pino! I love that a navy stain over pine looks teal!

If yous wish to brand the woods darker, another product to try is a gel stain.

Gel stains are much thicker than regular stains and easier to work with. They can work by themselves, or they Can go over an existing polyurethane finish. This is terrific article that discusses how to practice this.

A third way to change the color of an existing stained and finished woods surface is with the addition of a tinted paste-wax. This one seems amend for a smaller surface area. Yous tin read about wax over poly here.

Andrew and Rachel Ashmore did a number on this brand new ceiling to make it wait old and wonderful in their master bedroom.

A fourth option is to put a tinted coat over the existing poly. At that place are oil-based glazes and water-based. The former is phenomenally noxious, so I'd opt for the water-based. The glaze is a medium to which the universal colorant is added.

You will need to make sure that your existing poly is very well-cured before trying this method. And that ways waiting about a calendar month.

An excellent mail about the best ways to stain pino can exist found here.

I even constitute an article nearly staining with shoe polish. And you know, I accept used shoe polish to create antiquing for pocket-sized things.

Jay talked about mayhap doing a reddish dirty gray color in another email. I call up that'southward a dandy color with wood trim.

Below the commencement image is another photo of a cool antique-looking pino floor that'southward more ruby. I think this muddied royal looks not bad with both shades of stained woods.

Deplorable, sources for the in a higher place ii images unknown, only speaking of woods stained floors, please cheque out this post that has much info plus the popular floor cleaner that will wreck them! If y'all're more into painted wood floors, please bank check this post out.

Above and beneath, a cute gimmicky abode via Magnolia with a gorgeous stained pine ceiling.

Beautiful built-in cabinet too. And that looks like encaustic cement tiles backside the glass doors.

A Gorgeous lakeside home by Muskoka Living.

I'm non certain what kind of forest that is on the ceiling, merely it sure is lovely. You lot tin check out the rest of this astonishing abode in the link. I adore those slipcovers and the lesser banding.

Well, that was an interesting practise about the possibility of irresolute a pre-existing stained wood finish. Has anyone ever done that and what were the results?

xo,

Delight don't forget to check out all of the cute hot sales!

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Source: https://laurelberninteriors.com/2018/04/15/fix-bad-wood-stain-color-no-refinishing/

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