Back on my stain journey lol.

I’ve ordered a different (allegedly) “non-yellowing” finish, and have been trying and comparing stains. It’s interesting how different stains look pretty much the same in one kind of lighting, and then quite different in another.

This is with my current finish over some of them. The new finish won’t arrive until Tuesday. Fingers crossed I can figure it all out before Friday, as the fridge arrives Saturday!

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I think what I’m going for is something close to this cabinet color, perhaps a little more brown and less yellow in hue (warning: this is an AI image). It may still work okay-ish with our cool brown floors. It will make them more grey-looking, but overall I think it will be acceptable.
Of course, everything just magically *works* in AI-generated interior design. It’s because they all incorporate that angelic soft glow from the Realm of the Fae.

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I know they don’t look extreme in this lighting, but in bright morning light (our kitchen faces East) the finished side looks GARISHLY saturated.
I already have PTSD from how orange our floors look, having ambered over the years compared to when we first bought the house, when they were a nice neutral SANE shade of pale tan oak.

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So, something I didn’t account for because I haven’t finished anything in a while (heh) is how much DARKER and MORE AMBER the urethane finish makes the stain colors. 😩

Most of these stains were very close to what I wanted in hue, saturation, and LRV until I put the clear coat finish on top (left side of each piece). Now they are too dark and too golden for what I’m trying to achieve.

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And here’s how the stain looks once it’s dried. The next step is to put a coat of finish on it (10% sheen, which is quite flat) and see how that affects the color. The piece on the left has another stain color on the bottom, and a bit of the raw wood visible at the top. The piece on the right has just the one stain color being tested on its top half.

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And here’s how it looks freshly-applied (still wet) on my two solid wood stain sample pieces. The piece on the left is actually for our bed. The piece on the right is for the cabinet trim in the kitchen. When they are dry, it’s likely that they will look different in certain lights. That’s been my experience so far, at least.

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Here is my latest stain attempt. The 1st photo is the pure Light Walnut stain on its own. When I tried this mixed only with white and the clear base, it came out with a slightly green tint on my bleached white oak. 😫

So to cancel out the green and add more warmth, I’ve been experimenting with adding various ratios of red, yellow, and orange. Adding just one drop can subtly change the undertones of the stain.

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My oh-so-scientific stain testing setup

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Expand the picture to see the difference in color between the raw wood, bleached wood (yes I found a wood bleach and bleaching method that works on white oak) and the two stain options.

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