The Color of Stain

Blue Door Painters offers advice on choosing colors for Washington, DC wood surfaces

Wood stain is a powerful tool.  Not technically a coating, it actually penetrates the substrate to which it is applied, changing the color by enhancing the natural tones of the wood with a warm translucent glow.  Stain can be used to make wood look antique, to make it look exotic, to change the color, to bring out the natural grain, to make it look warmer, or to catch the light coming in from a window just so.

 


Any wood can be stained, interior or exterior, but you need to be careful when choosing colors and coming up with a decorating strategy because stain is also one of the most volatile tools in the coating industry.  Since it penetrates and blends with the natural wood, rather than coating it, stain doesn’t turn out consistently across the board; the exact same pot of stain will look drastically different on a piece of oak bedroom furniture than it would on a treated pine deck.  So choosing your stain color is an exercise in both careful decorating strategy – and trial and error.

1. The Strategy
First off, you want to take the type of wood that you are staining into consideration.  Luxury woods – like cherry, maple, mahogany, or rosewood – should NOT be stained, because they look far better in their natural state (this is why you pay top dollar for them).  Some other woods, like cedar, redwood, and oak, are attractive with or without stain, leaving the big decision up to you.  Other types of wood – like beech, birch, poplar, ash, gum, and new or pressure-treated* pine – almost always benefit aesthetically from a stain job.

* Be careful to ENSURE that your pressure-treated pine is fully dry from the pressure treatment process before staining.

Next, it’s time to think color.  We’ve talked in previous blogs about the psychological temperature of the various rainbow colors (red, orange, yellow = warm; green = neutral; blue, violet = cool), and about the way that the value (ie, how light or dark the color is) effects the perception of space in both interiors and exteriors.  The exact same considerations come into play with wood stain, except you are dealing with a palette that is pretty much composed entirely of shades of brown.  Brown is a flexible color; it can – and is – pulled by stain up toward the yellow/white/blonde end of the spectrum, out into a world of reds and oranges, or down into deep earthy tones approaching black on the value scale.  When you are staining wood, you should think about both the warmth – which can be loosely measured by how much red is in the color that you choose – and the light play.  If you want a warm, homey feel, go for a stain color with a lot of red or orange in it.  If you want a cooler, more sophisticated look, go for a pure chocolately deep brown color, or alternatively a pure white- or yellow-blonde.  Undertones of green and blue in the stain (these are subtle, but sometimes present) will also make a stain feel ‘cooler’.  Next, think about the amount of light you want playing off of your wood surface.  If the surface is large, light colors will make your space look larger, while darker colors will bring about a feeling of intimacy.  If the surface is small, light colors will lower the emphasis, while dark colors will make the details “pop”.  Use any and all of the decorating principles that we’ve discussed in prior blogs, and remember to consider the other colors you will be using in your decorating palette.

2. The Test

This is the important part, and you have to be ready to spend a little bit more than you may want to.  Because after picking out the color you want, you have to use some trial and error to figure out what type of stain will actually give you that color in real life.  Since stain reacts unpredictably with different species of wood, you have to purchase several different stain colors (and even stain brands) and try them out on an out-of-the-way surface before you can ensure that you have achieved the right affect.  Pick a hidden corner or side of the surface you are staining and try out your stain colors, ensuring that you are using the same lighting and number of coats that you will use in your final application.

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