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Welcome back to trim staining hell

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Replacing the trim around our new bedroom windows was painful. We tried multiple types and colors of stain but never really came close to matching the existing. The only saving grace there was the new pieces didn’t lay against the old and with distance there’s room for variation.

Not so this new living room flooring project. New baseboard had to butt up to old at the two kitchen entrances and the hallway… not to mention the fireplace and built in bookcases.

It was a major challenge.

The husband and I made three trips to three different stores and bought three different colors but nothing worked.

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The piece on the left is what we needed to match. Most never came close. And mind you baseboard moulding is sold by the foot so every test piece that fails?

Ka-Ching! 💰

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We had to stain over 100 feet and I wanted it to look nice.

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Three more stores, three more rejects. I couldn’t understand it, we’d bring in my sample piece and match it perfectly to theirs only to find it wasn’t close when we got home and applied it.

Then we went to Sherwin Williams. Turns out they’ve bought the Minwax company… and guess what?

They can color match stain.

What!!! Why did no one ever tell me this was possible?

They also told us the reason we could never match our color was because all the store samples are done on oak and baseboard moulding is typically pine.

What!! Why did no one ever tell me this?

After stifling my anger at the stain industry, we purchased a can of perfectly tinted stain and happily started the process.

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Have finger, will travel.

Yes, the stain looks red but when gently applied with a rag and my forefinger instead of heavy handing it with a brush, it was almost perfect.

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Sadly my old Grateful Dead tee shirt gave its life to the cause.

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Two coats of stain, two coats of amber poly and one giant air bubble in the plastic later, we were done.

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15 thoughts on “Welcome back to trim staining hell”

  2. We’re in the throes of stain hell, too, for our screened in porch floor. I like your decision process. I didn’t know about SW’s ability to match stain. You’ve opened up a whole new opportunity for us. Thanks, maybe…

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  3. I’m so glad that that “Stain Saga” came to an end, lol. You know, I wasn’t so nitpicky when I began to DIY things around my house. Then, one day I began to paint the yellow wall where the kitchen pantry use to be. It was bugging the hell out of me for three days (that way because I couldn’t do anything until the weekend after the fridge was delivered) and went and bought the same white paint I’d used in the other rooms. As well as used a primer (Kilz, works like a charm) but the white wasn’t “white” enough. So I thought, WWRD? What would River do? So I went to Home Depot, and Lowes to match the white paint I bought two years ago. I took a picture of it, and Lowes was able to match it and viola, white matches white. Then I realized I was becoming match obsessive….like River…lol.

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  8. Why didn’t they tell you this? You already knew the answer – to get more money from you.

    I’ve mixed my own stains to try to match old woodwork. You can combine parts of multiple cans if none seem right. I once worked on a project with a pro and he had squeeze bottles of pigments (like the ketchup bottles in diners) and mixed his own by eye all the time. Just a few basic colors and he could match anything. I have some pain that was color-matched by the paint company. It doesn’t match.

    I’m glad it worked out for you.

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