HERE’S HOW TO STAIN OVER STAIN | 6 TIPS TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE A PERFECT STAINED FINISH FOR YOUR FURNITURE
Hi sweet friends! Have you ever stained a piece of furniture and thought you picked the “perfect” stain but then realized it wasn’t what you wanted? Did you live with it, or decide to sand it down and start from scratch?
I’ve learned that staining furniture isn’t much different than dying my hair. I’ve been blonde, strawberry-blonde, streaked-blonde, red-head, black, and brunette so I know what I’m talking about. 😉
Like any good hair stylist will tell you, you can apply a dark hair color over a light color, but not light over a dark. To go from a dark shade to a lighter shade, you must strip and remove the dark shade first.
When it comes to furniture and wood, staining over stain works exactly the same way!
Today, while trying to turn two dirty scratched road-rescue tables into “Country-Charm”, I chose Peacan Minwax for the tops. Once applied, I decided I wanted to stain the tops much darker. What I didn’t want was the hassle of stripping and sanding all the wood over again.
I was feeling adventurous so I applied Dark Walnut Minwax stain over the already stained Pecan wood. It worked beautifully!
STAINS I USE & RECOMMEND
The end result didn’t turn out the exact shade/color which is shown on the Dark Walnut Minwax label, but, somewhat warmer due to the golden tones of the Pecan underneath. Seeing as I’m not trying to get an exact match to any existing furniture, no biggie… and I quite like the warm tones coming through.
So here’s my lesson for the day which I’m sharing with you ~
1. Staining over stain is easy and works beautifully if you’re applying a dark stain over a lighter stain on raw wood. This rule applies to oil-based stains, water-based stains, and gel stains.
2. You can mix 2 or more stains together to make DIY custom stains. So long as you are mixing the same type of stains. eg water-based with water-based, oil-based with oil-based, and gel stains with gel stains. You do NOT want to cross-mix stains!
3. Warm-toned stains (stains with yellow or red undertones) work great to slightly warm up cooler-toned stains.
4. Pick an inconspicuous spot to test your stains before applying them to the entire surface.
5. It’s not advisable to stain over polyurethane or any other protected finish such as wax, varnish, or shellac. Removing the topcoat before staining is a must. (unless working with Gel Stains – see tip #6 below)
Here’s why. Last summer I tried touching-up scratches on a head & footboard by applying a matching cherry stain over the finish. Big mistake! After applying it, it did help camouflage the scratches but; the end result was horrible. Regardless of how many times I tried wiping it down, it felt tacky to the touch and rubbed off on my hands and clothes every time I was near it. Oil-based stains will sit on top of a finish and be oily to the touch rather than sink into the wood as they are intended to.
6. Gel stains can be applied over an existing finish with a light sanding. This is because Gel Stains are topical and don’t penetrate the wood as traditional stains do. I have a full tutorial on How To Apply Gel Stains Over an EXISTING Finish here.
Have any questions or staining stories of your own? Or maybe we should have some fun and share hair dye stories gone horribly wrong… I have a few of those!
Happy Painting and Staining!
Denise
RELATED POSTS
OW TO APPLY GEL STAIN | STEP BY STEP
WEATHERED GRAY STAIN TUTORIAL
10 TIPS FOR STAINING FURNITURE
STAINING PINE WITH GEL STAIN
STAIN OVER STAIN | HOW TO TUTORIAL
PIN AND SHARE!
Hello again... I'm so happy you dropped by! Let's keep in touch! Follow me on social media or sign up for a dose of furniture painting inspiration and diy tutorials. :) 
I love gel stains! I used General Finishes Java to take my golden oak bookcases to a nice dark color. A year ago I found the perfect size console table to hold my new TV. I lived with the grayish “driftwood” finish for a few months before I decided I had to do something to make it more cohesive with the other wood tones in the room. The piece didn’t seem to have any poly on it so prep was minimal. The General Finishes Antique Walnut Gel Stain went on quickly and the new color is more “me”!
Your bookcases and tv console table sound beautiful! I love gel stains too!!!
Mu hubby trying to please me with dark color oil stain put too heavy of a coat and now its a sticky mess. I think we should wipe off what he did but then we are back to light oak color.. not even sure if I can paint over the piece after we whip of stain he did. Any suggestions. We are on fixed income and late 60’s… we need easiest solution
Thanks Sheryl
Several years ago I painted my kitchen. I used the blue painters tape on the woodwork door casings. When I ripped off the tape it took the finish off the molding where I had applied the tape. I decided this year to fix the molding. I tried staining over the bad spots but the molding seems to have been treated with something maybe polyurethane, I’m not sure but the stain won’t penetrate into the molding. I decided to paint the molding brown and stain over the paint. Two door molding and cellar door came out fine but my back door using the same paint and stain has dried maroon and doesn’t match the rest. The door was a blonde color before I painted it so the stain dried a different color than the rest. My question is can I stain minewax special walnut over red chestnut or do I have remove the special walnut?
You can definitely use the walnut over the red chestnut (if it hasn’t been sealed yet) but I would do a test patch first. It won’t come out walnut stain color but rather a combo walnut/red chestnut. I would just make sure I was happy with the combo before I did the entire door frame.
I just got a light stained old church pew and want it to be dark but it does have a finish on it like polyurethane or something. Can I just sand off the finish or do I need to take it down to bare wood again?
Hi Tricia! You certainly can try sanding off the finish but I find it’s hard to sand (just the finish off) evenly. If I’m going to sand, I like to sand down to bare wood for the best results. You may want to look into using a Gel Stain as I did here to darken it up. In most cases, because it stays on TOP of the finish rather than sinking into the wood, sanding is not necessary.
I have a pine bedroom set. I recently chalk painted the headboard white. I don’t want all the pieces to match but I want them to be neutral, maybe somehow be natural but not so yellow.The pine is knotty.so I primed the headboard first. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Elizabeth! Maybe a gel stain in gray or white? This might tone down the yellow and you can stain over the existing finish that you have on it now. I gel stained my orange stained doors and they look amazing!
Can I add a grayish stain over my orangy stained table to tone it down w/o stripping?
Hi Brenda! Yes you can but I would suggest testing to make sure you like the look first. Also, if there is an existing topcoat and you use a traditional oil based stain on top, it won’t dry properly and you will be left with a stickiness. I would recommend a gel stain as I did here.
Any advice staining over stains with color?
my husband built me a coffee table I designed, but he stained it without checking with me on the color. It was too red/orange for my taste, so we neutralized it with a green tinted stain.
Now to give it a true brown color… any advice???
Hi!
Your tables are beautiful!
I have a question I hope you can answer. I’m working on a rocking chair for someone else and JUST found out it will be an outside chair. The problem is I’ve already stained it with indoor stain, ebony in color. It turned out beautifully.
I haven’t put the finish on, thankfully. I thought to check one last time before I did so.
My question is should I/can I put an outdoor stain ove the indoor one?
Maybe a “natural” one? For the UV protection at least?
Or just forgo it and get straight to the finish.
I plan on using an outdoor oil for ease of reapplication.
Thanks!
Hi Machin! If the rocking chair is going to be outdoors, I totally agree with you. Using an outdoor poly with UV protection is an excellent idea!
Did you let your first stain dry before applying the darker color, or does it not matter?
Hi Dave! Yes, the stain should be dry before applying a darker color.
Do I need to samd before restraining my table? I already put a top coat of polyurethane. I am staining it darker..
Hi Sandra! Yes. If you’ve top coated with polyurethane, it’s best to sand and then stain darker.
I have been re-doing a kitchen table and chairs plus barstools. Im doing a couple pieces at a time and using polycrylic on top to protect. I used three coats of the polycrylic. Now I have noticed that two of my chairs are lighter than the other ones and I want to add another coat of stain. Do I need to completly sand down to the wood and start over because of the polycrylic aready applied? .
Sorry to be picky but Grammar Police citation:
Staining over stain is easy and works beautifully if your applying a dark stain over a lighter stain on raw wood.
should be “you’re”
Thank you David…spell check must have missed that one. 😉
Hi – wondering if you have any suggestions for trying to cover some dark stains on a teak table top by sanding and restaining the table with a darker stain than it was originally. I have tried multiple things to try to lighten the stains, to no avail, e’g. oxalic acid, bleach, lemon juice, ironing, and sanding. The stains appear to have gotten deep into the grain, I think caused by potatoes or onions stored on the table, even though I had a plastic table cloth on it. Thanks!
Hmmm, it sounds like you tried a good few tricks already Lynn. The only other thing I can think of is vinegar and salt. Mix into a paste and rub on the dark spot for 5 minutes or so. If you can’t get rid of the dark spot, possibly a dark rich stain on the entire table will help disguise it. ??
Try baking soda with a little bit of water let it sit for 5-10 min and scrub with a cloth or very fine wool. Or use ‘restor a finish’ pretty much covers up anything
I watched a video of a guy who was trying to get out a dark stain on a piece of furniture, he bought it from someone else. he did all that you did and then it looked fine but when it came time to staining that spot had been so dried out that it wouldn’t take up the stain as well as the rest of the piece and ended up being a lighter spot than the rest so just be careful with that. I’m not sure if there’s a way that you can hydrate/ condition the wood so it’ll take up the stain evenly maybe couple coats of pre-wood conditioning.
We have colums that were stained to look like cedar but they just look orange to me. I love the minwax early american stain but im aftaid it wont cover the orange. Ive sanded the colums but not sure how to get rid of this ugly orange!! Please help!!
I’d pick a stain similar darkness but with blue or green undertones. That will help balance out the orange as blue is the complimentary color to orange.
I just applied a light walnut stain to an interior pine door but the finish came out with a reddish tint which is not the desired look. I need to darken this to bring out a warmer appearance. Suggestion as to what shade of stain I should apply over this existing stain?
Hi Steve! I’ve had this happen too. Pine is notorious for turning yellowish undertones when staining. An ebony stainebony stain could help neutralize those red undertones but I would test first… in case it’s too dark for you. Or I might try a Jacobeantry a Jacobean… or something along those lines… cooler undertones. Good luck. 🙂
Hi Denise,
I would love to either stain or paint the horrific dark 70’s cabinets in my mom’s kitchen, but they don’t seem to be made of real wood, but something cheaper. Better than pressboard, but not as solid as real wood. I’ve tried sanding them, but that only seems to make them even smoother and paint just won’t stick. I’ve heard about spay-on options like liquid sand paper. Have you ever tried spray-on options to rough up a surface in preparation for paint?
Hello! I see this is an older blog, not sure if you will see this or not. We recently decided to refinish an old light oak table. We sanded down the top, and used a stain called “slate”. The stain is BLUE. I have a blue kitchen table when I was hoping for a weathered gray look. I have not sealed the stain….can i add a stain over the top of this? What would you do?
Hi Heather! I know how frustrating it is when stain doesn’t turn out as you want. ugggh. You could try adding a darker warm gray stain over the blue. It may go darker and be a little more bluish than you were expecting regardless tho. Seeing as you haven’t topcoated, you can play around with a few stains but its really trial and error when mixing stains because even the type of wood plays a factor. Good luck, I hope it works out for you.
Thank you for the reply! We decided to re-sand and use a totally different stain. Its darker, and still slightly blue tinted, but it is MUCH better. What a day!
I’m sure… it’s a lot of work! I’m so happy you found a stain you like better. 🙂
I have oak stained floor boards, door trim, stair rails, etc., throughout and would like to stain them darker. Would the liquid sander work to prep them, or should I use actual sandpaper?
Hi Jacki. If you’re working with trim, rails etc, sanding is definitely better imo.
Hi Denise. I have a cabinet that t use for a Pantry. we purchased it unfinished and stained it a maple color. we used a gel or wax stain cannot remember which. can I stain over it without sanding it? I will of course clean it thoroughly.
What is your advise? Lois
I already darkened my cabinets with espresso brown gel stain. I think they are a little too dark. Can I lighten them to a lighter color stain?
thanks
Hi Anna! Without sanding back some of the dark stain, a lighter look can not be achieved with lighter stain. As I mentioned it’s like dying your hair. If you were to dye it black and then apply say a light brown, the black is still going to dominate.
I have the same problem. I prepped a set of dressers I believe are maple.. stained them with minwax, early American. Some of the wood grabbed the stain more than other areas. The surface feels a bit rough. I was wondering if. I used steel wool to smooththe surface before using a darker stain would help ? These are Heywood Wakefield dressers and were constructed by piecing in the wood together to make this specific style of drawers.
Sanding with 100 grit should open up the grain a bit more. The finer the sanding media the harder to stain. The grain can actually be sealed from staining by using too fIne of a sand paper or steel wool
Hi, I’ve got a farmhouse table that I’m going to refinish. I want the same color or even darker, so I just lightly sanded it. Well some areas of the sanding are lighter than others. After applying one coat of stain, those same spots are lighter. It seems like the stain just wipes off. I’m going to let try and try again, but I’m afraid the rest of the table and those light spots will never catch up to each other! I really don’t believe that I need to sand down to bare wood, do you?
I just sanded my golden oak kitchen cabinets and stained them using Minwax Dark Walnut mixed with Classic Gray (70-30 mix). The grain is gorgeous but I feel there is just too much orange coming through. I am going for a weathered rustic look, maybe a slight white wash. I do not want to re-sand them. Is there something else I can put on them prior to doing my polyurethane? I have looked at dry brushing and white washing, but do not want to much white.
Hi Deb. A subtle wash or dry brush may do the trick. ?? If there is a raised grain you could try a white glaze. A glaze is easy to control when wet so if you play around with it you might get just the right amount your happy with. ?? It’s always good to test first though. You wouldn’t want to ruin all the hard work you’ve already put in.
You mentioned not staining over anything with a varnish. I have a mantle that appears to be sealed with poly or varnish or some type, but I’m wanting to stain it darker. Would I need to sand it first, then re stain? Or maybe use a watered down chalk paint?
Hi Julie! Yes, if you stain directly over topcoat it will become tacky as in the example I used with the cherry headboard. Sanding would be the way to go to get a nice dark finish.
How my did you fix the headboard and get rid of the tackiness? I have done something similar to my doors. They aren’t sticky anymore
But are oily feeling.
I ordered new kitchen cabinets they are the wrong color. I wanted dark brown but they are a Reddish brown
I m push for time would you stain a hole kitchen or just return them all , because that is a lot of work
Plus they will discount the cabinets for me
Regina, sorry to hear that. Personally, I would return them. For the amount of time it would take to restain etc, and seeing as they are brand new, I would return and get the exact color you were hoping for. Good luck. 🙂
Hi I would like to restain my frames / moldings in my house from a pine color to a cherry color, when you go to remove the top coat is it just slightly to remove the gloss so that it will steap in, then after re apply the gloss?
Denise, I bought a wood coffee table and the stain is messed up ; slightly bubbled on some areas and just scratched in others. I want it to look good enough to sell but I don’t want to completely redo it. It has a dk. walnut stain (looks like) on it now. If I lightly sand to scuff it up, can I apply Dk. Walnut Minwax stain over the existing stain without it “gumming up? Question 2 – or would it be better to apply minwax polyshades (stain & polyurethane) so I don’t have to put a top coat on after the stain? THANKS for your help!
Jackie
Hi Jackie! Hmmm, I’m not sure? My concern would be the bubbles/scratches and existing topcoat. If you start sanding (even lightly) those bubbles might get worse and may require a full sanding anyway. But if you stain over an existing topcoat, it may get tacky/gummy just as you said. Maybe try in an inconspicuous area and see how it reacts. I’ve never used Polyshades over an existing stain and/or topcoat so I’m not sure. ?? Sorry, probably not the answer you were hoping for. 🙁
i want to darken my golden oak kitchen cabinets , when u did the end tables.. did they have a finish on them and did you just stain right over that.. no sanding? I have read alot about staining or glazing over finished products.. but if you do so can it be left unsealed after u restain? I am wondering how it will hold up..say wiping down a cabinet over time.. and I like the finish that is currently on my cabinet.. dont know whether it is polyurethane or what its kitchen oak cabinets.. i can wipe them down easily with a bit of water and a bit of soap.. but resealing would be alot more work.. thanks KIm
Hi Kimberly! If there is a slick easy to clean/wipe down topcoat on your oak kitchen cabinets, they would require sanding to darken them up with a stain. Otherwise, the stain will sit on top of your topcoat and become tacky like it did with my headboard example. And yes, I know a lot more work, but stained would does require a topcoat to seal it and allow it to be cleaned/and wiped down.
Funny, i had picked similar colors to yours, i strained Pecan first, it felt it was a bit light, got. e light walnut, did it on a small piece of wood, but didn’t like the walnut either, too dark for my taste. I was looking for something that looks like pecan but more darker.