Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Matching oak furniture

Recently purchased oak entertainment center to match existing oak cabinets. Brought cabinet door to store to match up and it looked good. When it was delivered we found the ent. center to have yellowish hue. Both are called honey oak by manufacturers. What would be the best approach to try to tone down the yellow?

Bill

Bill:

Stop by the grocery store sometime (preferably a large one) and take a look at the honey in the jars. The color ranges from an almost brilliant yellow to a subdued brownish yellow. So much for color names.

Take a piece of paper and draw a triangle. Label each corner as follows - Red, Yellow, Blue. These are the primary colors.

Between red and yellow, label that spot orange. Likewise, between yellow and blue, Green. Between blue and red, violet. These are the secondary colors.

In theory, adding two opposing colors together in the proper amounts will yield black. In practice, you almost always wind up with a brown. For instance, directly opposite red in the diagram is green. Adding green to red will yield a brown, if it's added in the proper amount. Likewise, believe it or not, adding violet to your yellow, will tone it toward a brown. Just don't get to heavy hadned with it.

This can be done with a stain. I'd suggest going to a good paint store and picking out a medium violet, then getting them to mix a quart of stain (it'll be solid stain, similar to paint). Use a small wet sponge to apply just a film to one area - see how it works.

Of course, once you get the color right, you'll have to refinish (apply another finish, not strip) the entire piece. But the color can be altered, and you can DoItYourself.

Thanx George ! Very helpful info. At least I know where to start now.