Want to lighten a wooden fire surround

Catbells

Hi. I've got a very dark fire surround with mantle piece which is not very nice but I cant afford to get a new one. Ideally I want to lighten the wood to make it into a beech or maple colour but the guy at the local DIY superstore said you cant lighten wood, only darken it. Is this true? It may be the only way I can achieve what I want is to paint it which I dont really want to do as I like the grain in the wood - its just the wrong type of wood. Thanks for any suggies.

nickj_2

unfortunately you can't stain wood lighter ,painting would probably be your only option

devildog

I assume the wood is dark because it has been varnished/stained or whatever to that colour. Would it not be possible to strip/sand back to bare wood(time consuming ) and then restain/varnish or whatever to a more acceptable colour?

timjim

You could try the following:

Rustins Wood Bleach

We used on a Dark Oak Stain Fireplace and it took it back to light oak colour

Sorry can't post links

Catbells

Thanks, might try the Rustins. think the one here is oak so light oak would be perfect.