It was 3 years ago right after we moved in this house, that I decided to tackle this project that I originally posted about here. In fact, click on that post from last year for all the details on how I did mine. If you have those light oak railings and banister on your staircase, you might want to do this too. It was a really easy project!
These top 2 pics are the Befores and you can see the dramatic difference that stain makes below. The beauty of Polyshades is that it’s stain and poly all in one. I did NOT sand, prime or do any prep to my railings, I simply brushed on the Polyshades to darken and deepen the color of the stain and I’ve been really happy with the outcome.
My foyer table has come a long way too. See how light the oak railing is in the above pic?
This is After: Polyshades Bombay Mahogany applied.
I was looking for contrast with the floors, so I’m fine with the 2 different tones of wood.
This color blends very well with my older vintage pieces of furniture in the living room too.
And I love the darker, richer depth of the stain now. I’m so glad I did this one! So, I’m digging this project up again, because I met a new blogger recently who was inspired by my post last year to do the same thing at her house.
(Kate’s foyer, BEFORE)
Kate at Centsational Girl, mentioned that my project had inspired her to do something with her plain oak railings in her house too, so she has just finished this project and I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce Kate to those of you who have not yet met her. Kate lives in CA, has fantastic taste and a wonderful DIY blog that you will totally enjoy. So, click over to her railing project too. You will love her entire blog and be hooked like I am!
And, AFTER
Check out what Kate has been up to with wallpaper and moldings too. What a change! I just love it all. Notice how she painted the bottom of the staircase molding white too. Click over to Kate’s blog for all the details. She will tell you all about how she did it and the color stain she used. Now, I want to go back and make mine even darker!
Hope ya’ll will also be inspired if you have those light oak railings. This is a great way to get an instant update for just a little elbow grease.
so you really didn't have to sand the banister first before applying the stain?? sounds too easy to be true!! 🙂 did you do any taping?
i may tackle ours soon.
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Great Job!!!
Just became a follower! ; )
Kimberly
Fabulous Rhoda! It looks awesome! You've done it again!
((((hugs))))
Kim
GORGEOUS projects!! Both yours and Kate's!! I am so glad you showed us these… I love the results you both got. I especially love how Kate used the wallpaper detail. Both of your projects add so much warmth to the stairs. LOVE IT! 🙂
The dark wood is stunning! Thanks for the link over to Centsational Girl's blog – I've been perusing it for over an hour!
Great redo my friend!
ButterYum
Sweet! Love the before and afters..always! I like the darker wood so much better. have a good one!
I really admire the way you just dive in and do these changes without fear of the outcome. I am usually hesitant to try something new, but have used several of your ideas. Thanks for the inspiration and courage!
Hi, Ladies, just to answer a few questions on how I did my railings. I did NOT sand at all, nor did I tape off the white spindles (call me crazy)and as I mentioned in the first post (be sure to click on that link at the top for my original post with all the details), I just used a cheap chip brush that I could simply throw away after using, since this stuff is oil-based.
Polyshades can be found at Home Depot or Lowes. It's a Minwax product, you can see the can in my original post. The stain & poly are all in one can, so what it basically does is color right on top of the old stain finish and doesn't penetrate, but acts like paint, but is still see-through, make sense? You can still see the woodgrain through it. I did find out by trial and error that the Bombay Mahogany seemed to cover better, with a darker finish. I tried Dark Walnut too, but it wasn't nearly as deep in application as the Bombay was. I would say to get a small can & try it out. YOu could mix in a darker shade of stain too to darken it even more & that was my intention to have it really really dark brown. It turned out a little more red than I wanted, but I'm still happy wit hit. You should be able to paint over any wood with this and it will stick fine. Get a small can and test it out first and see how to work with it.
It really did work very easy for me. It was almost one coat coverage for the most part, I went back in a few spots & touched them up later to darken them completely.
Rhoda, your railing looks really great. I am wondering if I could us that same product on my oak china cabinet. I was going to paint it white as well as a pedestal dining rm table. But I recently fell in love with a vintage table and chairs and purchased them for my din. rm. They suit my house so well, the china cab actually looks better than it did and I am wondering if I should just make it darker to match the vintage table and chairs. That might be the answer! I will need to see if we can get it in Canada. Hugs, ~cindy s~
Say it with me now, "Rhoda for President !" Or Governor, or Mayor ! You are such a can-do gal, and you inspire us all.
Big hugs,
Kate
I think my dated oak cabinets are in for a surprise.
I hope to take some time soon and go back in time through all of your great posts.
This post couldn't have come at a better time! We bought an old mantle this weekend (and by "we" I mean the mister…and I was SHOCKED! In a good way. 🙂 and it needs to be darkened a notch or two. Sounds like it could be Polyshades to the rescue!
I LOVE IT!!!!
Beautiful!
I did the same thing to our stair handrail. Only mistake is that I didn't sand it first so the mahogany stain has worn off…now I have to redo it. This time I will sand first!!
Rhoda…this looks great! Where did you buy the Polyshades? You may have mentioned that in your post…I'll go back and check. Really looks great! Susan
I like your darker stain. Kates foyer is absolutely beautiful and WHAT a difference.
I like the darker stain too. It gives a much richer texture and look to your banister. Good job!
Rhoda, great way to update your bannister,they look great. Simple and hardly no cost other than the labor, good advice! Hugs Kathysue
Your railings turned out beautifully. I did the same thing to my kitchen cabinets last summer.
http://embellishedbayou.blogspot.com/2009/06/kitchen-cabinet-re-do-diy.html