This is going to hurt. But in the end, you will be very happy. But it’ll hurt.
First, background: how to lighten dark stain, a no-brainer
First, it’s good to know how to darken a light stain. Then we apply that to the other way ’round.
Strip the varnish or polyurethane if the wood has a layer, and simply apply dark wood stain as you would wood, Chuck. Do test carefully in hidden areas to see the final color as stains can be tricky.
Read below about strippers. No, paint strippers. Use this eco-safe stripper or if you have good ventilation and courage, go full-red-blooded-toxic-waste. Plus you’ll want a selection of sandpapers.
That wasn’t so bad, right? Send me before and after pics and I’ll make you a star on the internets.
Diagnosis: what to do to lighten dark stain?
GOOD NEWS: you may not need to. Why?
Few people know that very old varnish (used a long time ago) will certainly have darkened over the years. The dark color you see may just be the varnish!
There is a stripper in your future, but not the kind you got at your bachelorette party. I’m done with Vegas.
Pick a hidden section of wood for testing. Use either an old-fashioned toxic paint stripper or use a modern, but less powerful citrus-based stripper. It may be that the actual wood stain is not as dark as you thought and you can simply strip the finish and re-coat with a modern product (that will not darken like the old stuff). Glad you came to bradthepainter.com now aren’t you?
Dark stain embedded deep into the wood
Ok, you are sure that it’s really dark stain and not just aged varnish. Sorry to hear that.
Ok, this is going to hurt. Do you like my bedside manner? Seriously though, really, this is really going to hurt.
Take a breath and hold it: You have to sand way down into the wood until you get past the old stain. Ok, breathe. Breeeeeaaaaaathe.
The only way to remove a dark stain from wood is to take out the stained wood grain. First, you will stripping all varnish or poly-whatever is on there (see above), and then you will be sanding the upper portion of the wood off and the dark stains with it.
Think carefully about what it will be like to sand in tiny corners, over and over and over. It’s hard.
Use an electric sander and lots of fresh sandpaper. Don’t go budget on the sandpaper. The good stuff is a much better value: it lasts longer.
Good luck…
Sometimes it’s best to just paint over stain.
Ask me anything on any topic! Please use the comments below.
I’m single female & can only do very minor DIY projects… My house built in 2014 & all cabinets in the house are stained extremely dark shade… Plus, not enough windows to get enough natural light. The result is cabinets that almost look black & feels like living in a cave. I need an additional flashlight to see inside the cabinets!!
Anyway, I’d b really like for expert to remove older dark stain & re-stain all to lighter shade. But online says that’s not really a good idea & will not look good. Expert does not recommend whitewashing or bleaching either. They suggested painting, but I’ve also been told that due to peeling, chipping, etc… painting cabinets does not last & will look bad very soon… So HELP?
I cannot afford all new cabinets, so what would u suggest a professional do as best to get my cabinets much lighter & look good?
. I think the advice you got is fairly accurate. Trying to remove stain that is darker than the direction you want to go, is not going to work. You would have to remove the stain deep down into the wood to get back to the natural wood, and then stain. You’d be better off buying new cabinets which you cannot do. They are right when they say to paint. I would paint the inside and outside a nice latex, semi gloss white. In order to do this properly you need to sand every square millimetre and then apply a stain killing primer. You can read on my website about those This is key. You want the one that is alcohol-based. Don’t buy the water-based for the old stain will bleed through. If you buy oil based stain killing primer, it may work, but in 10 years the stain may start coming through. The only solution for primer is shellac which is an alcohol based primer by Bin or Kilz. Read about that on my website also. It is nasty nasty, nasty stuff. You need to wear a respirator which you can also find on the website. You must have a chemical filter on your respirator and you need to open the windows while you’re doing the primer. After that, it’s just regular semi gloss painting like any trim work. It’s something a professional should do but if you don’t have the money, watch some videos and watch other people doing it. Look for the title of such things as ‘converting stained woodwork to paint’. All the realtors these days are telling you to do that. They they want to sell the house for as much money as they can so they have painters come in and change all the natural woodwork to paint. Personally, I think that’s stupid but I’ve done a number of times. I have natural wood in my house and I love it. Anyway, that’s a long answer to the question. Yes, just paint.
hello! tried to stain a banister a lighter color by sanding it down to bare wood and then applying the new lighter stain… unfortunately a bunch of darker splotches showed back up when it was dry. is this because there was stain still embedded in the wood? wondering what I should have done here. thanks for the info!
It must have been. I did not see it so cannot be sure, but could there be some impurity… wax… oil?
Best advice is to strip it with a paint stripper and sand deep, then start again. Sorry!