mahogany wood stain

jessmist

hi can somebody help me

the previous owners stained all the skirting boards/doors/door frames in my home in a mahogany gloss stain can somebody please tell me how i can change the colour to a lighter one without having to burn all the stain off i don't want to go back to a gloss paint as i don't want to have to decorate it every couple of years so i would like it stained for that purpose

any advice appreciated

paullwill8

Can't be done i'm afraid, not without removing mahogany, unless you used a paint and grain type paint.

emilyt

Paullwill8 is right. Tried to do this ourselves in our kitchen. Ended up putting new skirting boards on and starting from scratch. Sorry.

misgrace

There was a product out called 'brushwood' and that came in different stain colours, oak, beech, mahogany etc, it was normally used to stain over white gloss.
We know that its impossible to stain over white using the proper stains, but this product came in a two part system, you put a base coat on first, then you finished with the top coat (varnish).

I used it quite a lot for clients, as they wanted me to go from white gloss to stain, and I would have to apply the base coat twice over the gloss for a better result.

I have never used it on mahogany to go lighter, but TBH, I cant see why it wouldnt work, as the base coat is your lightener so to speak, so if you bought pine for example, and done 2 coats of the base part, then finished with the top part, I dont see no reasom why it wouldnt have the same result.

Its worth going to your DIY store and seeing if its still there, and reading the instructions, I'm sure I saw it still around last year.

Peartree

You mention it has a 'gloss' finish? In that case, I'm not sure it actually is a stain and, if it is underneath, it sounds likely that it has been gone over with a varnish. A real stain would just go into the grain and give a mat finish as far as a I know.

I think I've done something pretty similar to what Misgrace suggests in my own bumbling 'try anything to save some time' way. I was trying to go from a beech colour to get a very dark shade and building the colour up with translucent varnish was taking forever. I used a thin coat of a very dark brown paint with a gloss roller (the roller gives a thin and patchy first coat so it is not too solid) and then went over with a couple of thin coats of a dark varnish. Amazingly, the effect came out rather well and has fooled even my harshest critics!

Having said that, if you want a 'no paint' surface for the future, Paullwill8 is absolutely right, it can't be done. Any of the suggestions for covering over the stain will need renewing every so often. But then, it does sound like you've got a varnish on there anyway which will itself need freshening up.

If you're looking at all the shelves with wood colouring and maintenance and products, I'd suggest you look very closely at the 'small print' on the back of the cans. Many of them only work with completely bare wood.

Could you adapt your ideas on the rest of your colour schemes so you could live with the dark colour?!?

jessmist

thanks for all your advice i might have a look at the brushwood product or its going to be a lot of hard work

thanks for all your help