Wood stains upgrade any wooden surface. They add color and often highlight a wood’s natural texture and design. Whether you are staining furniture, interior features, or DIY woodwork, applying a stain improves your wooden home projects, enhancing your space and wood surfaces. Here are three tips for staining wood and how to do it like a pro.
Sand Before You Stain
No matter the home improvement project at hand, from DIY décor to furniture maintenance, any task that involves staining wood should start with sanding. As a natural composition, wooden surfaces feature lots of texture and uneven groundwork. Sanding down your wood creates a smooth and leveled base that’ll make stain application easier and even. It also opens up the wood’s pores, helping the wood surface absorb the stain better.
Apply Wood Conditioner
Wood conditioner or a pre-stain further preps your surface for optimized staining. It ensures your stain doesn’t get completely absorbed into the wood, which helps avoid faded and uneven coloration. There are numerous benefits and lots to consider when applying wood conditioner. When added, a pre-stain primes and preps your wood surface for even more flawless staining execution and finishes. Alongside a sanded surface, wood conditioners further improve the final look and effect of your wood-stained home improvements.
Mix and Stir the Stain
Before applying the stain, give it a good mix and stir. Stirring your stain ensures you get the most out of your solution, apply an even coat, and maximize the color and formula in your stain. Like most mixtures, the various components in the staining solution separate over time. On top of optimizing your staining process, mixing your stain before application also brings together and stimulates the necessary chemicals in the mixture. It ensures you stain your surfaces without any lumps, discoloration, or low-quality finishes.
Sanding and conditioning your wood, as well as stirring your stain, enhances your wooden home features, DIYs, and home improvements. These three wood staining tips ensure you stain like a pro and improve various aspects of your stain application process. It helps you properly prep your surfaces and apply stains easily, allowing you to get the most out of them. Whether you are DIYing woodwork décor or maintaining your wooden home furniture, when it comes to staining, doing it like a pro ensures you receive the best results.
