Staining over white paint- has anyone had success?

Perhaps an over the door hook would have worked better? Or a 3M command hook. They make them in strengths to hold a lot of weight and no damage to your door.

If your surface is painted, the stain has nothing to seep into and will just look "dirty" and float on top of the paint. You can try with another shade of paint with the brush on, wipe off technique. Or strip the paint and stain to match existing stained window.

Yes I have done this several times. Here is the catch: you must use artists oil paints. A fan brush to make it look like wood and a badger blending brush. They also make wood training tools. If you still want to do this please talk to a faux expert. They may even teach a class on how to. I never used glazes as a lot of them suggest. I used just the oil paints and paint thinner to thin just slightly. Dud I mention that you have to take the door off. You cannot do it straight up and down. The door needs to lay flat.

Maybe you could try that Valspar metallic paint and find a color that matches it closely, and just paint over? (That is, if you don't want to strip it or use special paints and processes). Or what about try a bold color of paint that goes well with the cedar and paint it something different altogether. Like a picture-frame effect rather than matchy-matchy. Just a thought, depending on how much work you want to do. Home Depot (or probably any hardware store) sells window frame kits that are not painted or stained. Maybe you can just get one of those and just replace it. I have found it very difficult to strip paint and old varnish from window frames if they have any shape or pattern to them.