Use Steel Wool to Lighten Stained Wood
Steel wool is a viable option to lighten wood without sanding. Start by dampening your 0000 steel wool in warm water. Run the steel wool along the grain of your wood to avoid scratching it.
The only effective way to lighten the color of wood after it has been stripped of all surface coatings is to use a wood bleach. Sanding does help to lighten wood in many cases, but this only applies to surface soil or grime, and even then only if the discoloration has not penetrated very deeply.
One of the simplest ways to age wood quickly is to apply a paste of baking soda and water, let it dry in the sun, and scrub and wipe it away. Aging wood with baking soda leaches the dark tannins away, resulting in a partially bleached, weatherworn look, similar to a barn or driftwood.
If you're opting for a more natural stain, applying a white color wash is the best option. This adds more character to your wood. Adding this extra process only applies if you want to get a lighter wood color. The lighter color you apply, the lighter the stain, and the more it lets your natural grain shine through.
Wood Brightener does 3 things for your deck: It neutralizes any remaining stain stripper or wood cleaner. It restores and brightens wood to its natural, bare state. It opens the pores of the wood.
If you really can't make that dark wood finish work in your space, consider painting over the piece with a fresh color. Play it safe with a neutral hue that blends with the piece's traditional look, or choose a bold accent color to make it really stand out.
It can lighten the darker wood to match the lighter one. Before you use bleach on any piece of furniture, make sure the wood is suitable for bleaching. Some woods don't accept bleach well -- cherry and satinwood, for instance, should never be bleached.
For pieces where you have a dark finish and want to go lighter, you will need to remove the existing finish first. Then, determine what undertone your wood has and counteract it with an appropriate stain color. For pieces that are a light finish, and you want to go darker, you can simply apply a darker stain!
My first tip for working with dark wood furniture is to use tones (paint, bedding, pillows, artwork, curtains, etc.) that compliment the wood tone – usually warm, neutral colors. In this design, I painted the walls BM Revere Pewter – a warm gray.
PolyShades stain and polyurethane also allows you to easily change the color of your currently stained or varnished wood without stripping. Over old varnish you can change the color without removing the old finish or hiding the grain.
Simply place your favourite flowers in the vases and use them as centerpieces for your dining area. For an elegant feel, try filling a vase with white flowers only. A few hydrangeas nicely arranged in a rounded vase will make any table look chic and sophisticated.
Hydrogen peroxide is a great solution for bleaching wood. But, it may not be suitable for all tree species. When used on oak, the wood may turn a shade of green. Bleaching is done using a 30% solution.
The most effective way to lighten the color of your stain is bleaching the wood with chemicals. Steel wool and mineral spirits can lighten your wood stain by a small amount if you don't need to adjust the color much.
Have you ever stained a wood piece, only to find the wood stain was significantly darker than you expected it to be? Well, there's a way around that. Wood stain can be diluted with minerals spirits, water, or lacquer thinner, depending on the type of stain.
Diluted vinegar can dissolve the finish that protects the wood and leave it looking cloudy, dull, or scratched. (The same goes for wood furniture.) Follow the manufacturer's cleaning recommendations or pick a cleaner that's made specifically for hardwood flooring.
Just like hardwood floors, vinegar can eat away at the wax finish on wood furniture, leaving it looking dull and cloudy. But, you'll frequently read that vinegar is ideal for cleaning all types of wood. If you would like to use vinegar on finished or waxed wood furniture, use it extremely infrequently and at your risk.
How does vinegar darken wood? Vinegar causes steel wool to oxidize, or basically rust. That rust “dyes” the vinegar. Then, that vinegar reacts with the color of the wood that you apply it to, giving it a new, deeper color.
For hard to lighten wood stain, use oxalic acid, known as "wood bleach." If that doesn't work, strip off the old stain and start fresh.
First dilute a water-based white paint with water, to a consistency of heavy cream. The water to paint ratio depends on the thickness of the paint. It's usually about 1 part water to 1 or 2 parts of paint. Dip a rag or soft paintbrush into the paint and wipe it onto the wood surface in the direction of the wood grain.