The Stain Saga

So I must admit, I led a sheltered life when it came to woodworking. I do remember taking shop class in middle school, but all I really remember is how the teacher loved to show girls how to use the machines by wrapping himself around the girl and the machine at the same time. I did make a sign with a "router?" once that said "gone fishing" for my parents, which is kinda strange now that I look back, since they didn't fish that much........ but even then, I don't remember the painting part. I also have a vague memory of my mom painting our house when I was pretty young, so I can only imagine how helpful I was then.

So, I don't really have any experience building anything, painting anything, let alone staining anything. Then there is Jered, who may now think I have some sort of disability because of this new discovered deficiency that I have, since he practically knows how to do everything. He did build me a new office....

Jered had built me the coolest shelf a year or so ago, and now it is going to go on display in my carport. It is made out of pine, so it is really light colored (I guess I don't even know if all pine is light colored??) and it may have a little bit of weather to go up against, so Jered got the brilliant idea to stain it. I thought that sounded like fun, since I had no idea what it entailed. I knew that the doors in my new office were stained, and it looked pretty cool, so I figured, what the heck :)

We went to the store so I could pick out the color that I liked. There were a lot more colors of brown than I had imagined, but it was still an exciting adventure. I decided to go with "Colonial Maple". It looked light, so I hoped it wouldn't hide the grain on the wood too much, but still darker than the wood actually was.
We decided to stain a little bookshelf first before the big outside shelf. It turned out to be a wonderful idea! I dipped the rag into the stain, and applied. I remember when I first opened the can I thought, "wow, this color sure looks orange." But since I don't think I had stained before, I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out to be the most awful color I could have ever imagined!!!!!!!!!!!!! My favorite color is orange, but when I saw the "colonial" orange that overtook my cute little bookshelf, I almost threw up. It looked as if the stain had thrown up on itself; that is really what "colonial maple" should have been called. After the first coat, I was freaking out, but I thought it may get better if I apply another coat. No such luck was there! (Took a picture of it that was too ugly to post!) I couldn't believe that I had ruined my new little bookshelf (but a little relieved that I didn't attempt my big shelf also)! Jered was attempting to reassure me that the color of the wood makes a big difference with the way the stain reacts to it, but it was too late. I decided that I hated staining, and it was stupid.

After Jered helped me calm down, he took me back to the store to look for another color. He convinced me that staining didn't always turn out like that, so I was willing to give it another chance.

I went with a much darker color this time. I wanted to be able to stain over the awful orange color, and I didn't want to have any hint of orange on my other projects. This "provincial" seemed to be the best bet. Below is my little bookshelf with two coats of "provincial" and two coats of "colonial maple". It looks way better!
It still has quite an orange tint to it, but not as pink as it was. I was satisfied, but wanted to try something that was just "provincial".

So Jered built a shelf for me that can go next to my bed. I think it looks SO beautiful with just one coat of "provincial"!! Then I was ready to tackle my outdoor shelf!

It turned out great as well! So after all the stress of the original stain color that tainted me in a considerably negative way, now turned out to be a super positive experience. And of course, now I know how to stain stuff.