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Polyshades Stain Project

January 16, 2008 By Rhoda 43 Comments

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Not too long after we moved in here, I decided to stain our stair railings from the plain & boring oak that they were to something more rich & exciting. So, I bought some Polyshades by Minwax. Not sure how long this product has been out, but it is pretty neat in that it has stain & poly all in one step. You don’t have to do a lot of prep work to change the color of something & the results are pretty amazing. Thought some of you might like to see this project. It was very easy to do & only took about 2 or 3 days working a couple hours at a time. I didn’t tape off the spindles, but used a small cheap chipbrush that could be thrown away. Did I mention that I’m a lazy painter & hate cleaning brushes? Especially oil based paint brushes. So, you can buy these chipbrushes very inexpensively & throw them away without a lot of waste. I mixed 2 shades together: Bombay Mahogany & Royal Walnut. The Mahogany has a lot of red & I was trying to get more of a deep dark brown. It turned out a little more red than I wanted initially, but I’m still happy with the results. It’s a whole lot better than the boring somewhat blonde oak color we had to begin with. Here’s a pic of the railings before I started. Boring oak. Oak is not my favorite, especially this color. I have some old furniture pieces of oak that are rich & mellow, but the new oak in most houses today leaves a lot to be desired. No offense to any of you who love oak, it’s just not my cup of tea.

And here are the After pics. I think you’ll agree that they look a lot richer & have much more depth of color with this new stain. My railings were not shiny to begin with so all I did was wash them down before I started & then just stained. Keep a rag handy to wipe any drips.
You can see how they contrast with the floor. I wanted them to be darker than the hardwoods. This product is a little bit runny, so you do have to watch the drips as you are going along. I did one coat overall & then went back & added more where it was streaky. All in all, it turned out just the way I had planned & I’m very happy I did them. This color above on the railing is very accurate to how they look in person.
They aren’t quite as orangey-red or streaky as this pic shows with the flash, but here’s a closeup. I’d suggest you get small pints of any colors you are looking at & mix them until you get exactly the color you want. It doesn’t take a lot of stain either, so small pints, not quarts will do this job easily. I’m working on a small side table that is not real wood, so I’ll show you that one when it’s finished. I do notice that the Bombay Mahogany really does go on darker & more saturated than some of the other colors, like the Royal Walnut I’m working with now. So, the best advice is to experiment with the colors before you get started. I do think if you wanted a darker brown shade that you could easily mix one of the darker ones in with the Mahogany to get the look you want.
This is an easy project, so I hope you might be inspired to make some changes too. This will work on furniture too, so keep your eyes open for something to update at your house!
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A big THANK YOU to Angela at Cottage Magpie and Des at Peeking Thru the Sunflowers, for giving me the “You Make My Day” award. I’m so appreciate of all the awards I get, even if I don’t always pass them on. Thank you for the honor!

I’ve also been tagged by Rhondi for a 4 Things About Me Post, so since I haven’t done this one before, I’ll be a good sport and play along….

4 jobs I’ve had:
Library Page (my first job at 15)
Administrative Assistant
Design Consultant for Ethan Allen

4 movies I watch over and over:

I rarely watch movies over & over again, they just aren’t nearly as good the 2nd or 3rd time to me…now my husband, he can watch his favorites over again at least 100 times.
4 places I’ve lived:
Marietta, GA
Lakeland, FL
Birmingham, AL..you can see I don’t move much!
4 TV shows I watch:
Devine Design
CSI
Dr. Phil
48 Hours

4 places I’ve been:
St. Thomas
Italy
St. Maarten
France

4 people who email me regularly:
Vicki
Manuela
Debra
Debbie

4 favorite things to eat:
Pizza
Ice Cream – White Turtle from Brusters, I even blogged about it last year.
Anything Chocolate
Creme Brulee or cheesecake

4 places I’d rather be:
Italy
Gulf Coast Beach in FL
San Francisco
Caribbean

4 things I look forward to this year:
Getting my decorating business off the ground
Volunteering in ministry
Possibly going on a missions trip
Going to the beach for a week with my hubby

4 people I will tag:
Manuela @ The Feathered Nest
Debra @ The Bunnies’ Bungalow
Sher @ Sher’s Creative Expressions
Donna @ Donna’s Art
OK, girls….you’re it! I’ve also got an exciting lamp makeover to show you soon, so stay tuned!

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Filed Under: Paint Project, Projects and How-To 43 Comments

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. marie says

    April 1, 2012 at 2:38 pm

    I love what you did. I the same color oak everywhere is giving it a bad name. Its a great hardwood and doesn,t have to be that same 80s color everywhere. I recently mixed bombay with black and got a darker more chocolate brown color, but be warned a little black goes a long way. All I did was stir both cans really well and then poured in enough black to top off the can of bombay and it cut the red nicely.

    Reply
  2. Debbie says

    January 17, 2016 at 9:43 pm

    How has the polyshades held up? I used Generals Gel Stain in my bathroom and is not holding up. I lightly sanded prior to foing my bathroom. You say you didn’t sand first so I’m wondering if I can use your method on the next bathroom cabinet.

    Reply
    • Rhoda says

      January 17, 2016 at 11:37 pm

      Debbie, I’m not in that house anymore, but it was holding up fine when I moved. I probably would not use it on cabinets, there are better products for that.

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Thanks for stopping by! I’m Rhoda, from Atlanta, GA and I love decorating and DIY projects. Decorating a home doesn’t have to cost a fortune and I’ve spent years thrifting at antiques markets and yard sales, finding those treasures that make a home unique. I’m here to inspire and encourage other women to find their own inner creativity. Won’t you join me?

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