To dark red stain or not to dark red stain?
by
Louise
+12
I've painted the wood parts of this chair a deep red high latex gloss paint. (The photo is obviously before the paint.) The plan was to then put poly on it for protection. I'm covering the fabric parts with a fabric that has some red in it. BUT someone recently suggested I use a dark red stain on something else I'm doing and I wonder if I strip the red paint off the wood for this chair if I could then stain IT very dark red? I'd like that better because then there'd be no paint to chip off with wear and tear and look ugly. I'd guess if I strip the paint, I'll need to sand the wood well, but will it then accept deep red stain? I've nearly never stained anything so this is new to me.
I think stained would look great!! And, how exciting is it that it would be your first time? I say- go for it!!
I'm excited to see how it comes out!
That is an amazing chair.Stain would definitely be the way to go.
I would try it and then if you don't like it cover it in material. Good Luck
If you already have red paint on it, you need to sand it all off first. If you want a real dark red I would first put a coat of real dark stain On another piece of wood, scrap wood, and put your red stain over that to see how dark you can get it. Regular red stain is not and does not generally get real dark to begin with. Try it over A couple of different brown stains. Pick the one you like. Just remember when you put your clear coat (poly) over it, it will get even darker so you might want to try that on the scrap piece too. Good luck!
If your chair will get hard use I would recommend poly to protect your stain or put several coats of wax. Another possibility is wood dye. It comes in powder form and1 oz. makes a quart. You can mix colors and that may be possible to get the shade you want. This is one website that sells it and has advice and you can Google wood dye and find others. http://www.rockler.com/finishing/wood-stain/wood-dyes ; I have not tried using this, but maybe other people will join this conversation to give you practical advice.
Thanks. Never knew about wood dye. I like the idea and will check it out. Also like the idea of wax since it seems faster (maybe?) than poly with drying times in between coats.
I've stained a lot of furniture, although I never used colors other than wood colors. I finished the pieces with tung oil or paste wax rather than poly. That way you can touch them up with tung oil or wax every few years and they never peel like poly sometimes does. Water will bead up on the finish. The tung oil or wax may change the color a little, so you want to experiment before working on your main piece.
I did dye some pine cones red one time and they came out beautiful! I used regular Rit dye on them.
https://www.unicornspit.com/ After you strip the paint, this will give you more of the color you want, and allow the wood grain to show through.
Dark oak or Cherry Wood stain would be good!
I agree, sand, stain (minwax cherry is so pretty)in 2 coats and if it is a little too read you could apply a coat of walnut stain to tone it down then finish with your preferred way of finishing.
Don't know any more than what others have said about the stain/paint finish, BUT wonder if you already know or don't know, your cat will demolish the underside of the chair if given half a chance. Unless is declawed. Just for your info.