Should've would've could've done

[ksmith]

Should've jogged this evening. Instead, I applied the first coat of stain to the oak vent registers I'll be installing in the kitchen and living room. An oak stain for the white oak kitchen registers, and maple stain for the red oak living room pieces.

Amazing, the difference that one coat of stain can make. There's nothing like good wood.

Comments

[kalligraphy.livejournal.com]

A number of years ago we were ready to kill my mother. We had just done major renovation work on the house. The arch to the back hall and all window sills and edging were done in white pine. Beautiful, expensive, white pine. Mom decided that she wanted to trim those rooms in white so she went to the store to inquire about white stain and the idiot at the paint store told her that there is no such thing as white stain. So she bought white paint and painted all the white pine. Forever hiding the wood grain. Mom said that she had to because there is no white stain at which point we pointed out that you are supposed to use bleach.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Oy.

My house is older--late 60s/early 70s--and all the kitchen cabinets are real wood. Even the shelves are 3/4" thick board, as opposed to the particle board shelving I've seen in homes much more expensive than mine. The doors are Shaker-plain, no design whatsoever. But, real wood.

Whoever installed them stained them green. I blame the 70s.

It's not a horrible green. Kind of a piney shade, which you can still find in stores. But still, green. My ultimate goal, at some point when I have nothing else on my plate, is to strip away the green and apply a nice oak or maple stain. trolleypup once warned me that I might never be able to remove all the green, but the right kind of cool-toned brown stain could work with whatever green undertone remained and make the wood look almost alive.

I will admit that there is the same sort of all-wood cabinet in the bathroom. The owners stained that one yellow. My folks did paint over it, a nice cream shade. My Dad didn't have the patience for refinishing.

Some companies offer a huge number of non-natural stain colors, but I confess an aversion. What did the wood ever do to you, that you should stain it rose pink?