How can I make my old Oak yellow looking bedroom furniture lighter?

My Oak bedroom set has turned very golden yellow, instead of the original natural color, which was much lighter. Can I do anything to restore and change this color?


  13 answers
  • Janice Janice on Jan 27, 2022

    Hello Michael, you'll need to discover whether the oak has yellowed or if the finish has yellowed. Sometimes sealers turn yellow over time. Here's a link to how to "bleach or lighten" wood if it is the oak that has yellowed. I hope it is helpful.

    https://www.bobvila.com/articles/bleaching-wood/

  • Cheryl A Cheryl A on Jan 27, 2022

    here is some info for you

    https://www.houzz.com/discussions/3663862/natural-oak-has-gone-yellow

    our cabinets in our house did the same thing but the kitchen they turned orange in color and in the bathrooms they turned very yellow so we painted them and they are like brand new


  • William William on Jan 27, 2022

    Usually it's the sealer finish that has yellowed and not the wood. You can paint or white wash it. Just lightly sand to remove any gloss with 220 grit sand paper. If you want the look of wood you would need to sand down to raw wood. Either seal it with a water based polyurethane that won't yellow over time. Or you can stain it then seal with a water based polyurethane.

  • Mogie Mogie on Jan 27, 2022

    The natural yellowing of nitrocellulose lacquer bespeaks the age of a piece of furniture, and sometimes it's best to accept it as a feature. When the finish has other defects that detract from the appearance of the piece, you can sometimes fix them and lighten the yellowing by scuffing the old finish with 220-grit sandpaper and spraying on a new coat. The old finish re-softens when coated with fresh material and amalgamates into it. This treatment eliminates scratches and cracks better than it does discoloration, but it may have enough of a lightening effect to satisfy you.

  • Johnavallance82 Johnavallance82 on Jan 27, 2022

    Use White Liming wax, or paint it lighter,after lightly rubbing down and adding a Primer coat and then an undercoat and then 2 top coats of Satin finish paint.

  • Dee Dee on Jan 27, 2022

    You probably need to lightly sand the finish and restain with the color of your choice.

  • Kathy Gunter Law Kathy Gunter Law on Jan 27, 2022

    Give it a good cleaning then apply a restorative product like Rejuvenate. If you've had smokers in the home, that's possibly the source of your yellow issue.

    The yellowing could be if they used poly to seal it. If that's the case, you will want to remove it and then re seal it.

  • It may just be the finish that has yellowed over time. But, I've seen people lightly sand, and restain the wood. I've also seen a new look created with paint and then distressing with sandpaper.

  • Redcatcec Redcatcec on Jan 27, 2022

    The finish is the most probable cause of the color change, You could sand, stain, and polyseal.

  • Michelle Leslie Michelle Leslie on Jan 28, 2022

    Hi Michael, I suspect it's the sealer that yellowed rather than the wood. We had a small bookcase that did the same and used lime wax to lighten it. You can find instructions on how to do that here - https://www.housemixblog.com/2019/09/12/how-to-strip-furniture-and-apply-liming-wax/

  • It you're not into stripping, sanding and resealing, you could go right over the wood with a water based gel stain. We did this on our fireplace mantel recently and it took minutes. They come in lots of colors, including a whitewash and you might even be able to mix colors to get close to what you originally had. https://www.exquisitelyunremarkable.com/2021/10/a-fireplace-mantel-makeover.html

  • Sharon Sharon on Jan 31, 2022

    It is probably the clean finish that could be oil-based poly, or if real old the amber shellac gets darker as it ages.


  • You’d have to sand off the finish to really get it back to the way it was and use a water based sealer. It probably has oil based on it which yellows over time.