About 70% of the doors I work on have some kind of light, dark, off-color section or just lack of grain or just undesirable. In Extreme cases like the photos below this entryway was constructed of three different Woods the transom, side lights, frame and door were all different types of wood. When I strip a entryway down and find this I must dig deep into my bag of tricks using my refinish and decorative background skills plus a splash of color theory to recreate the integrity of the entryway. I use my many years of experience to tone, shade and even add faux wood grain to uniform entryways as much as possible.
Before Pictures
This entryway was so loaded up with coats of gel stains and varnish I couldn’t tell what kind of wood I would be working on. This entryway was refinished 3 months before I was hired. Still not sure what they meant by refinished???
Totally stripped and sanded.
Now I know why there was Gel Stain smeared and layered so thick. This was the other Refinishers way of disguising the different Woods and colors they created when stained. Yikes!!!
After first coat of stain color chosen by client this is what we were dealing with. The client said it looks like one of her grandmother’s quilts…( patchwork). I had to laugh, agree and get back to work on resolving this mess… Back to the lab again!!!
End result
After several hours of mixing, blending and creating different stain colors to interact with the different Woods this is what I came up with. A beautiful, rich and lustrous looking mahogany entryway… or is it??? In the end most importantly everyone was happy the clients, Myself & my camera!
Before pictures
I was recently approached by a builder who had just made beautiful custom White Oak pantry doors. When his painter stained them they came up a very undesirable color and multiple variations in the colors of different boards that were used. The homeowner wanted me to make these doors as uniform as possible.
After Picture
After stripping, sanding, multiple hours of blending and concocting different colors for each different board plus a dash of color theory this is what I came up with. This was more of a challenge than I expected. But in the end the Builder, the homeowner and myself we’re happy with the results.
Before pictures
A client of mine did not want to refinish these doors. They just wanted to preserve them from further deterioration. I decided to just clean them and coat them with marine spar varnish.
During Pics
After coating with Marine spar varnish. The doors came up dark,blotchy an unattractive due to the different consistencies of the 200 year old wood.
After Pics
This is where having a decorative art background as well as wood refinishing really comes in handy. After several hours of concocting different color glazes, samples and layering the glazes just wright. I came up with this warm and more consistent look but still kept its old world charm. This was a real challenge but in the end everyone was happy.
Honduran mahogany is very desirable but very inconsistent in color especially as it ages. I had to make up three different stain colors on the spot to pull this one together.
Before and During pictures
After Pics
