Help! They need help with stain on my beams

10 months ago

My living room and bedroom have Douglas fir beams that have been orange since I bought the house. They looked like that 80s 90s orange stain with lacquer that yellowed over the years.

I have been trying and trying to find a brown that has a slight gray to it. My new furniture is a brown with gray undertones, but my kitchen cabinets are mahogany. I am using solid stain because none of the stains, including semi transparent, covered up the orange of the Douglas fir. They were sanded down to Raw wood and the orange still showed through everything. I always thought it was the stain that made them look so orange I did not realize it was also the species of wood.

I tried mixing browns with a little gray and it went on the beams very green. After getting very tired of shopping for the right color I just chose smoked Amber. The painter put it on today when I was at work. It’s not horrible… But it looks looks green to me and definitely doesn’t look great with my cabinets. I was hoping more brown and definitely didn’t want green. Does anyone know if I could put another solid stain over the top of this one to make it look more brown?

Thank you for any suggestions.

Featured Answer

Michele
Original Author

10 months ago

Thank you so much for your comments and help! Someone at work recommended a color specialist that they know. I think they could hear the desperation in my voice! Ha ha! She was actually able to come out today and was a lot of help. I will post pictures when done in case anyone is interested.

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Comments (11)

Michele
Original Author
10 months ago
These are the after pictures that I think look Green
cat_ky
10 months ago
I dont see any green on my screen. They look like a very nice shade of brown here. Could it be the lighting in your house?
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Michele
Original Author
10 months ago
Yes it could be. I also didn’t realize the lighting was turned down on my phone when I took the picture. But your comment is kind. Maybe it’s just such a big change for me and I don’t think it goes with my mahogany cabinets. I can’t imagine painting or changing those cabinets because they are in amazing shape.
Michele
Original Author
10 months ago
I think it looks a lot better in the bedroom and in the living room.
Michele
Original Author
10 months ago
Sorry correction… I think it looks a lot better in the bedroom THAN in the living room. Maybe it’s the kitchen cabinets that are throwing me off a bit.
cat_ky
10 months ago
It could very well be the kitchen cabinets. I also notice that you have some end tables etc that appear to be similar in color to the beams, and they also conflict with the kitchen cabinets. Since you are all open concept, and do not want to paint the cabinets (dont blame you for that), maybe you need to get the beams restained to match the kitchen cabinets, and replace any wood furniture in your living room, that doesnt match the cabinets, and the new beam color. Only in the living room. The two different stains, do not go well together.
mxk3 z5b_MI
10 months ago
last modified: 10 months ago
I can definitely see the green; it's super-obvious in the living room pics on my monitor. I have no advice how to fix it in terms of product/application, but I do suggest that you choose a dark brown color or, even better, a dark reddish-brown to coordinate with the cabinets.

For just brown-browns, have you looked at Provencial, Special Walnut, or Dark Walnut?

ETA: BTW, I feel your pain on the orange. All my window frames and some of my interior doors were stained in some sort of orange-ish shade by the previous owner, and I'm in the process of changing things. I have no idea if the painter is going to be able to re-stain; if not, I'm just going to have him paint over them -- dark brown paint is better than orange stain in my book.
cat_ky
10 months ago
I am happy to hear, you are getting help, and hopefully, it will all be right soon.
Zory
13 days ago
@Michele what did you end up doing with your beams? did you repaint them?
Michele
Original Author
13 days ago
Yes, I painted them and they look great. I used Sherwin Wiliams black fox. The heavy stains I was using. We’re not covering up the orange color. It would dry and show through orange. I actually love the color and it looks great in the house.