Wood has this natural state of beauty that is hardly something to scoff at. Still, sometimes there will be cases where we can’t use the wood furniture in our homestead due to it contradicting the color of other furniture. This is where staining comes in.
If we should focus on staining wood darker then knowing how to do so will be an efficient way to make the natural allure eye-catching.
This also helps in enhancing the beauty of different home furniture such as hardwood floors, tables, wooden cabinets, and other wooden items in the house.
Can I stain over stain without sanding?
A lot of different factors go into consideration for sanding a product before applying a stain. Mostly it depends on the fact if it’s new or not. If the product we plan to sand is something new, they are most likely already sanded.
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However, when there is the situation of us having a piece of old furniture that we need to stain in order to bring it back to life. Then at this moment sanding might be necessary to remove any kind of dents or scratches that would need complex fixing.
Furthermore, we have to keep in mind that too much sanding will thin out the wood and they won’t be able to take in the stain anymore. If a piece of wooden furniture is stained but not finished, make sure to not sand it at all.
This will remove all the color of the edges and leave the product to look uneven all over.
Can you put a darker stain over a lighter stain?
Yes, you can. This works exactly like coloring hair. Darker colors can be done over the lighter shade when coloring hair. Any good hairstylist would agree with this; however, they wouldn’t suggest doing it the other way around. When it’s down to wood or furniture, it works exactly the same way.
Staining is used to darken any kind of wood. This process brings out a beautiful natural grain pattern. This allows us to make two different color patterns of wooden furniture become similar.
Let’s discuss below if we can apply a darker stain over a lighter stain on both concrete and wood.
On wood:
There are a few ways to apply darker wood stain on already stained wood. Although it can be done without using a commercial, we will rather use a linseed oil that is at boiling point.
Then we can apply that to a clean fluffy lint-free rag and rub that all over along the wood grains. This oil actually naturally darkens any dark stain wood and acts as a moisturizer as well. This finish will keep darkening as time goes on.
Be mindful that applying darker stains to already stained wood will create a variation of the advertised color at the end of the staining process. However, in this process, we can put darker stains over a lighter stain on the wood.
On concrete:
Unlike wooden materials, concrete materials can’t go from darker stains to lighter stains. We can only make the stain darker and just like wood, the color of the previous stain will affect the final result.
The best way to concrete stain is using the acid staining process. This allows the stain to seep into the pores of the concrete and ultimately become part of the concrete surface.
If the stain was already applied from the start, we can use a color wash in order to help darken the color in certain areas. Furthermore, in this way, we can use darker stains over lighter stains on concrete too.
What happens if you apply a darker stain over a lighter stain?
It is normal to have furniture already laying around with stains from before. One of the cons of staining is that it only stays for only a couple of years. Thus, applying to already stained furniture is a common thing to do. This is what happens when we stain over old lighter stain.
Remove all the varnish:
Firstly, before staining over already stained furniture, we have to remove all the lacquer or varnish. Removing those is necessary because they will prevent any new kind of stain from applying.
Vary from the advertised one:
Adding stains to any wood product will change the color as well as the highlight of the natural grain pattern that a piece of wooden furniture has.
If we apply stain over the stain, then the end result of re-applying a stain will vary from the advertised one.
Deep aesthetic finish:
Since wood is a product of nature itself, the color combination they have can vary from tree to tree. So ultimately it all depends on the particular type of wood.
Adding a darker stain over the lighter one will ultimately give the furniture a deep aesthetic finish.
How to apply a darker stain over a lighter stain?
Leaving the original stain in place is the best way to go if we plan to stain a darker stain over a lighter stain. There’s no need to strip like we need to do when going from darker stain to lighter stain either.
Bear in mind though that the older stain will alter the final result of the wooden furniture. Let’s go through the particular steps we need to follow.
Prepare:
When we need to stain over an existing stain, we have to make sure to get the right type based on the pre-applied stain. Otherwise, they might surface unwanted issues.
Wash:
Powerwash might ruin the grains of the wooden furniture, which in the end will make us have to do the sanding process all over again. The key here is to just rinse.
Clean:
A mixture of water and deck cleaner would suffice to clean the product. Then we just let the wooden furniture dry before going forward with the staining process.
Staining:
Here we use a brush, roller, or a painted rod to apply the stain in simple long smooth strokes. Make sure to not pool the stain in particular areas thus work in sections.
Second coat:
Apply a second coat of the stain after the first one dries off. This in the end will give you a darker result of coloring while the excess gets wiped off.
How can I make wood darker without stain?
There are other ways to darken wood without using mainstream commercial stains. Natural ingredients can create an effective alternative to using stains to darken wood as well as be eco-friendly due to them being non-toxic.
Tea & Vinegar:
Two cups of boiling water mixed with 2 packs of black tea bags left overnight for 24 hours. Take another bowl and add 16 ounces of apple cider vinegar along with a steel wool pad and let that sit for another 24 hours.
Use the tea mixture first with a small paintbrush and then let it sit for an hour before doing the same with the vinegar mixture and let that also sit for an hour.
Coffee:
Get a bowl to fill it up with one cup of dark coffee grounds. Mix it with 1 ¼ cup of boiling water and wait about 30-40 minutes. Filter the mixture in a mesh strainer.
Use sandpaper to fine out the grains of the furniture. Finally use a paintbrush to apply the mixture to the wood, repeat the process many times to achieve your desired dark color.
Can you put a lighter stain over a darker stain?
Firstly, we need to make sure if the product itself is new or not. Sometimes new products come pre-sanded. So, if you sand an already sanded wooden furniture, it will make it over-sanded that no stain will get absorbed in the wood any longer.
Stains are usually used to highlight the grain of the wood and because of this, we would not be able to use a lighter stain over a darker stain. In order to do this in the right way, we need to first strip the product.
Once the lacquered topcoat is stripped, we can finally remove the original stain with a chemical stripper or simply use sanding paper. Only after that, we can put a light coat of stain.
Final thoughts
Staining is a process of revitalizing something that’s becoming old and withered. Staining doesn’t heal something but rather it brings out the beauty of it. Since it’s temporary, we can reapply stain to something that’s already stained. Thus, it’s possible to add a darker stain over a lighter stain.