Adding a Little Character to a New Door

4 Materials
$200
1 Day
Easy

Adding some charachter to a new pine door by layering stain.

When we remodeled our en suite bathroom, we wanted to add a little charachter to the new pine door we installed.

We started with a raw, solid pine door from the home improvement store. We plan on replacing all the hollow core doors in our house with these. I didn't want to paint them and I also really love the look of weathered wood.

I started by staining the door with a mid tone stain. I used Early American by Varathane.

I simply wiped the stain on, keeping it even, with a rag. Easy peasy.

After I had given the door a complete double coat of the first stain, I started wiping on white wash pickling stain. This was a slower process. I wiped it on and then wiped off the stain until I had the look I wanted.

I did this until I had a consistant look I was happy with. I then let it dry completely.

I then used a furniture finishing wax to seal the door. I gave the door three coats. I just wiped it on on using an old sock.

I love the way the door turned out. I think it gives the door charachter and interest. I can't wait to do this to the rest of the doors in the house!

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  • Donna R. Goodson Cruz Donna R. Goodson Cruz on Mar 01, 2020

    I HATE my cheap, hardwood floors. Wonder if I could strip them and do this to the floors? I LOVE the color of your door. Gorgeous!

  • Sou78175282 Sou78175282 on Feb 12, 2023

    Beautiful! Is there another type of finishing coat besides wax that would provide the same effect? I would like to do this to all the doors in our investment property but it's a weekly beach rental with lots of traffic. I need something that is durable and can be washed easily and frequently and I understand wax is not great for that. Or am I wrong about the wax technique? Thank you.

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4 of 33 comments
  • GMS GMS on Mar 02, 2020

    I love the look of real wood, especially doors, I think when it come time to replace doors on my rooms in my house I will follow this - I hate that they all were painted and they are all real wood doors too - noone seems to appreciate real wood anymore without covering it with tons of paint - Great Job!

    • Jennifer Jennifer on Mar 03, 2020

      Thank you! I really love the look of real wood doors. It definitely is so much more interesting!

  • Karen Dunnam Karen Dunnam on Mar 16, 2020

    *character is the correct spelling

    • Arlene Arlene on Apr 05, 2020

      I had to go back and look for the word charachter. Thank you Karen Dunnam if she had only used the correct spelling it would have made the project perfect.

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