Faux Finishing - Steel door to dark, How to lighten it?

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Tami135
07-06-08, 11:01 AM
When we put up our siding I realized our steel french doors just wouldn't work anymore. We had never painted them since putting them in so I decided to clean them and stain them to look like wood. They turned out beautiful!!! :) Better than I ever expected them to turn out. My only problem is they went from being white and drab against the red oak siding to being to dark. :wall: Is there anyway to lighten them without going thru the whole process again? I used the Minwax Gel stain and they look like wooden doors. I was thinking of some kind of white wash or a really lighter stain.:confused: Our goal is to have that "old antique look" on new doors so I am opened to any suggestions. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

marksr
07-06-08, 02:34 PM
Applying polyurathane will help them to reflect light making them look lighter. It can be difficult to apply a poly over stain on a metal door. Stains are formulated to soak into wood, not dry on top of a substrate. To prevent the stain from lifting off of the metal, it would be wise to spray the first coat - you can buy poly in spray cans. It just needs to be sealed enough so brushing the next coats won't soften and lift the stain.

The only other option would be to apply a lighter stain over what you have now. Oil base may disolve the current stain although you could use some fauz graining techniques with latex paint.

Whatever finish you end up will need a coat or two of spar urathane to protect it.
Tami135
07-07-08, 01:22 PM
Applying polyurathane will help them to reflect light making them look lighter. It can be difficult to apply a poly over stain on a metal door. Stains are formulated to soak into wood, not dry on top of a substrate. To prevent the stain from lifting off of the metal, it would be wise to spray the first coat - you can buy poly in spray cans. It just needs to be sealed enough so brushing the next coats won't soften and lift the stain.

The only other option would be to apply a lighter stain over what you have now. Oil base may disolve the current stain although you could use some fauz graining techniques with latex paint.

Whatever finish you end up will need a coat or two of spar urathane to protect it.


Thank you! I'll get started today following your instructions.