So you have a set of chairs, they are the right size, they are comfortable, they fit your space well, BUT they are the WRONG color… What’s a girl to do??
Tone them!
What?! Yep, it’s called wood toning – it’s not re-staining. In fact it’s not stripping, sanding to raw wood, or using smelly oil based products at all. Want me to show you how?
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Restoring Wood Furniture without Stripping…
Step 1. Scuff sand the existing finish. I scuff sand by hand using 220 grit sandpaper. I use circular motions to scratch up the existing finish to give the new finish something to “stick” to.
Step 2. Clean the piece with a 50/50 mix of Denatured Alcohol and water. You never ever want to use this cleaner on a finished piece, it will break down the finish – which is what we want it to do here – and clean it without leaving any residue. I mix this in a spray bottle, spray it down and clean it off with paper towels.
Step 3. Here’s a new trick I learned, and it worked so well! Make a mixture of General Finishes Water Based Wood Stain (in any color you desire) and mix it with about 10% High Performance Topcoat. This will create almost a “glaze”. It will allow you to re-color the wood without a streaky finish. I applied this with my favorite Purdy brush, and it went on beautifully.
Step 4. To achieve the color I wanted, it took two coats of my “glaze”. So I just let the first coat dry and then applied the second coat the same way.
Here’s the difference – isn’t that fun??
Step 5. When I was happy with the color of the stain, and after they were all dry, I started top coating. These chairs took 3 coats of High Performance Top Coat in satin finish. I applied the topcoat with a clean Purdy brush, and just did one coat at a time, watching for drips as I went. DO NOT sand between coats!!
Chairs are a lot of work – and applying 5 coats of product to each chair was time consuming. However I’d do that any day over stripping and sanding the existing finish!!
And do you know what makes it all worth it…. seeing it all put together in my client’s home!! Isn’t this set gorgeous!
Give this technique a try, it’s a time saver like no other!!
Here’s the same technique on a mirror – a quick way to update something I love the shape of, but not the color!
Until next time,
Jenni
WOW!!! That is AWESOME!!
Thank you!
What is the difference between this and gel stain? Thanks!
Barb Dean
Water Based Wood Stain is water based where Gel Stain is oil. The gel stain is thicker and covers more opaquely (including grain). I prefer water based for safety reasons and haven’t noticed any missing features in switching from gel stain to this water based version. Give it a try, see what you think!
I have a cherry colored bench I’d like to make a darker (near black) tone. What would you suggest?
I would look into Walnut Wood Stain, it will take out the red and give it a dark (almost black tone). You may need a couple coats to achieve the dark finish, but it would look great!
I would like to go from an oak (orangish brown finish) to a tobacco finish, what stain color would you suggest for that?
Hi Melanie! I would recommend the Walnut Water Based Stain for that. It has a black undertone so it will take out all the yellow/orange color.
Very good project, the chairs look great. They are also very unusual looking chairs, very cool. You don’t see a lot of "bent wood" framing on chairs and especially on the backs. At first I thought they were old but they have screw covers and the covers are not flush so I am thinking they are newish.
Aren’t they great chairs?! My clients bought them from an Amish wood maker raw and did the initial finishing themselves. When it was time to get a new table, they still liked the chairs but they no longer matched. I sat on one, they were very comfortable!
I just posted a question to this on Hometalk then saw your web page. The question regards the mixing of the stain and the topcoat. At one point it looked like you meant 90% stain/10% topcoat, like 9 ozs stain with 1 oz topcoat. Then it appears that you used the Gen Finishes product "10% Topcoat". Your narrative was well written, I’m just new to this process. I really like the transformation and would love to do this to my old glider/rocker. I would use Espresso color. Thank you.
I’ll go double check my numbers!! The recommended ratio is 10% topcoat with 90% stain. I admit that I never measure that accurately but "eyeball" the ratio in a jar. Stir well and you are ready to go. The espresso would be a fantastic color to do this with. It may take a few coats of your glaze to get the color you want, so be patient with it. Good luck!!
Jenni, I really want to change my oak kitchen cabinets to a darker brown and hide some of the grain of the oak. I was considering GF gel stain but I really like the thought of using the 90% GF water base wood stain and 10% GF High Performance Top Coat. I am looking for a chocolate tone (not dark chocolate, though). What color stain would you recommend?
I also went to the store here that carries the GF products. They said in order to use the water base stain I had to sand the cabinets to raw wood. I want to make sure with you that this process will work without sanding to raw wood. I really value your opinion more. Thanks for your inspiration.
Sincerely,
Sharon Saple
Orange Park, FL
Jenni, now I am really confused. I followed your link to Amazon.com. I found GF Water Based Wood Stain in a black can and GF Water Based Stain in the reddish multi colored can. Which product do I order to “tone” my cabinets by mixing with the 10% GF High Performance Top Coat and 90% stain. Thanks.
They just changed the labels on the cans (of all GF products) new labels on Water Based stain are black!
Sharon, NO you don’t have to sand to raw wood to use the General Finishes Water Based Wood Stain. That’s what I used in this project and it works great! They just came out with some new colors, look at one called Provincial https://amzn.to/2WTa9Qo it’s a really nice color!
this was my same question – so glad you asked it and so glad it was answered 🙂 I have spent the last two weeks trying to find a gel stain in the colors I want – with absolutely no luck – unless I order online from a unknown website with $40 in shipping fees!!! this article totally saved my projects THANK YOU!
YAY! You are welcome!
The chairs look fantastic! Is there any reason why you couldn’t or wouldn’t use this same glaze technique on cabinets or other
furniture such as a table?
Nope this is it! This would be the same for cabinets (just clean the cabinets with a degreaser first) or furniture!
I have dark wood that I want to lighten…does this process only work if you want to darken the color?
Yes, unfortunately this is only to darken or change the color, not to lighten it.
I love what you did with your chairs. Once u spray the furniture with the denatured alcohol and water, how long before you wipe it off?
Hi Rosie,
I don’t really give it anytime to sit. I just spray the whole piece down, then go back immediately and start wiping and cleaning it off with a paper towel.
Which top coat did you use? Satin or Flat?
This is flat!