What will your window trim look like? Is it natural as shown? Consider painting the door trim white if your window trim will be white.

those doors look raw. Has any finish been put on it? It will darken considerably w/oil. Or try using a mahogany oil stain on the doors to match the trim. not a big deal.

All the trim will be white. I was really trying to avoid resorting to painting the door trim white. It's an expensive piece of wood to cover with paint. Also, I really don't care for the look of a stained entry door trimmed in white. I like it on interior doors, but not for an entry door.

The dark trim gives the door real presence.

Yes, doors are unfinished. What I want to do is somehow even out the large discrepancy in color and brightness. I do not like the trim color, and if I try to apply a stain that alters the color, it will make it darker, which is something I want to avoid. I like the tone and color of the door and I do not want to go dark.

It looks like two different species of wood. The front doors don't look like mahogany to me? But hard to tell on line. I would find expert wood finisher and get some local input.

oh ok,,I thought you wanted to go dark to match the trim. has the trim been oiled or stained? if so, you will have to strip it. might be easier to replace w/similar wood to door, or paint it.

but wait until doors are finished,,,you may be surprised at how they darken.

Flo....they are for sure both mahogany.

Beth...both trim and door are unfinished.

You can stain the doors to match the trim, and use a water base poly only on them both. It will not add darkness or yellow to the wood like an oil base will. Is there anything on the door or trim now? Clear coat?

nidnay, you obviously got two different types, meaning not cut from the same tree! were they never put side by side before being installed? Anyway, the choices are, going darker on the door, or getting newer, lighter trim. Or painting it. If you want to keep the shade on the door light, then something has to give.

those doors are really light for mahogany. there are many different shades/genus of mahogany. and then there is wood that looks like mahogany, and is sold as such, but it's really a different type of wood.

it wouldn't hurt to oil them up a bit. if you got halfway to the trim shade, I think it would work out ok

try a teak or tung oil and see if you like the results.

Beth....I was just reading up on mahogany and learning (as you mentioned) that there are a lot of different species of mahogany out there (as well as the fakes that they call mahogany but are not). The door was purchased from a very reputable company specializing in custom doors, but I'm not sure where my builder got the trim. Apparently the door company does not supply the interior trim. It did come with exterior trim which matches perfectly.
Maybe I should very lightly stain the door but not stain the trim and see where that takes me.

yes...or try the oiling first. oil on mahogany really deepens the color. if you have to get more red, try a red oil. super easy to apply, unlike the hassle of actually staining. you can try a small spot first. I used Penofin Oil. it comes in many shades of red. I got a bunch of free samples at Ganahls lumber (don't know if there is one of those near you) to try out. I used the Ebony Oil on my black oak doors. you could try the redwood or cedar (not sure if they have a mahogany red) to see if those would darken it a bit. It also acts as a sealer, so that's one less thing you have to do.

btw,,,fab doors!

The trim could be bleached. Then colored (dye/stain) as required.

I imagine the doors are a mahogany veneer, and the trim is solid, which often accounts for some differences.

PPF - What would I use to bleach the trim? I have extra pieces that I can practice on and make samples.

it won't be a fun process with it on the wall, but here you go:

a two-part wood bleach of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and hydrogen peroxide. only this will remove color from the actual wood.

the other two are regular bleach and oxalic acid, but they work on actual stain colors, not wood color.

your can read about it here

http://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/finishes/get-the-color-out-with-wood-bleach

Don't get too attached to the light doors, they will darken with age regardless. I'm surprised you picked mahogany if you don't like darker wood, it is what it is known for. They are gorgeous and will look fantastic professionally treated. Don't let the painters do it-I would hire someone who specializes in fine furniture.

This is what a properly treated mahogany door should look like. You will adjust to it, you are just feeling natural love for it in the raw. Dress it up and it gets even better.

Here is an article that has a bit more info.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/bleaching-wood

You will need a two-part (A/B) wood bleach.

nidnay,,,can you post a close up pic showing the trim/door? I want to see the wood grain on the trim too.

I'll be out there tomorrow (all my cabinets are going in this week - scary!), so I'll take a closeup while I'm there.

Thanks PPF and Beth for the bleaching info. Ha, now I'll see if my builder wants to play wth it.

greenfish1234....I am completely attached to tone of my unfinished door :(.
I totally agree that my painters are not the ones to stain this door! It could have been professionally stained from the factory/manufacturer. I'm not sure why that wasn't suggested to me.

Nidnay really it is a phase. I've been there. Mahogany is meant to be rich and red. Your light color is not showing the true beauty of the wood. Think the difference between cherry and oak cabinets.

try the oil!! (not stain) I swear, you'll swoon at how good it looks. I made some picture frames from Honduran Mahogany. it was, meh. Then I oiled it and the wood came to life. it almost glowed. really beautiful wood.

Hi
I believe the best idea is, stain very small spot on the bottom of door first with same stain you did on trim , by looking at it , you will able to see if it's match or not , if it didn't match, get a small can of "dark walnut " stain and mix it with the other stain that you use for trim
Just keep adding the new stain to the old one until you get the right colour. Good Luck
Feedback:
- Use a plastic table spoon to tale a new stain from can and add it to the old stain( don't use a bigger tools like cup, or a similar tools)

Chic,,you didn't read! there is no stain on the trim! they are both raw wood

man those doors are pretty, bellburg! OP prefers the lighter tone though.

Bellburgmaggie....Were your doors done professionally ON SITE, or sent somewhere?

Doors are more than likely Sapelle (cousin to Mahogany) and the trim is genuine Mahogany. Going to be a tough go to get them both the same color but i can be done (at least close). PPF seems to be on it with the bleaching link. However Genuine Mahogany is meant to be rich and red (which your trim will easily be) and Sapelle is most often used as a paint grade wood.

As you can see here , the 3rd picture is Mahogany raw material but door already stained (no varnish yet)
I didn't know that you mentioned they both are raw wood , honestly I've never seen such a dark mahogany,not even raw walnut is as dark .
I think you've better stain the door only not the trim and after use varnish(clear ) on both of them (door & trim)
This way they both become same colour

Nidnay I think the problem is as Beth & Flo mentioned, two different species of mahogany. Honduran mahogany is the coloring of your doors before stained. African Mahogany is much darker, even purple-ish at times. You can stain them to match very closely however. Most of the time, trim shops, use African mahogany because it is cheaper and more readily available. On doors, if you get good quality doors, like yours, you can usually specify Honduran mahogany. Sometimes it isn't an option. Here are a few pictures of our doors. The solid doors are Honduran mahogany. They were custom built with the interior & exterior trim, stiles, etc. The French doors are Honduran mahogany also. However, they did not come with the trim. The only wood available to us for making trim was African mahogany. We had to make it out of another animal and stain it to match. As you can see, it turned out ok. I agree with greenfish though, if you didn't want darker doors, mahogany should have never been purchased. You can put a clear coat on them, and no stain, but that or oil as Beth mentioned will bring out the red in the wood and will make them darker. You could try that first to see if it would work. Try it on the side of the door, not the front or back. That way you can see the color before going any further. If it doesn't match the trim, then you will need to stain them or either bleach the trim out as suggested.

Close-up of door and trim.

nidnay, I've worked on mahogany just like you have on the left and the right.

if you were to put on some tung oil, it would look like this

In fact, I forgot, I did a pair of raw mahogany wood doors for my bathroom. As you can see, the wood is the same type you have. I believe it's Honduran.

I stained one side and did milk paint on the other

I used a stain, a walnut I believe, because I wanted it darker so when I used the milk paint on one side, you could see the dark wood poke through

With oil alone, it wouldn't have gotten that dark. so just try a little and see how it looks.

Beth...that stain looks nice. Not too red and not that dark. Do you have any clue what brand/type of walnut you may have used? Also, can you use oil on an exterior door??

Really nice woodwork on the doors and stair posts. Personally, I like the darker wood for the door frame and would use the same for the door itself. Darker doors look sturdier and more prominent -- more the focal point of your entry.

Painting should not be the first choice with expensive wood items that are this well made.

Consider living with the darker frame a while, even if you do not finish the door that dark; if you truly hate it, you can always paint later.

It's possible that the wood may have been built from mismatched (colors) of pieces to begin with -- as the window frames appear to be -- and the frame might have turned out an uneven color when stained and so more stain could have been added to parts of it to get it even, with darker being the only option to accomplish that.

If you truly hate the finish and have decided your options are this or paint, and IF the finish is stained only -- no seal over that -- it might be possible to bleach some of the color out of the dark stained wood trim, but you do risk it ending up an uneven color, whether it was originally uneven or not. If you do try bleaching out the stain, try it only on a lower corner first. Be patient and, wearing gloves, apply the no-drip kind of bleach evenly in a very thin coats and do allow it to fully dry between coats -- wet wood will look darker. If bleaching doesn't work, you'd be back to the paint option.

I used General Finishes. Spiced Walnut I believe.

As for exterior, if the door gets sun/water exposure, then you must have a UV protectant. Penofin has the outdoor oil finish, Marine, w/those protectants. Otherwise, you will have to use a good UV Spar Urethane like Epifanes or Man o'War varnish. And those will need 3 coats to start and a coat a year after that

Thanks suezbell. The door was purchased from one company, and the trim from a completely different place. The are both raw wood, so there is no stain or finish on either.
The trim on the windows is paint grade (so not stainable). That's why they are different shades throughout.

If the raw wood is that dark, it is the heart of the mahogany -- a real find -- no wonder it cost a lot. Darkening it likely would be the only way to take the red out unless the lighter lemon Old English scratch cover might alter the color -- but then, I wouldn't want to do that.

You could consider the darker wood as a "frame" for the door in the way a picture frame is a frame for the picture -- not a match but an outline to present the door itself for viewing -- and finish the door the way you prefer.

I hope you'll keep us updated when your entrance if finished.

Haha suezbell, you don't mean "if" finished, but "when" finished! :)

It would drive me crazy having this disparate combination of wood tones. Most doors these days come with matching door jams as a whole system. Very odd. I would do both in dark stain, probably lots of ebony color and by varying length of time stain is left on wood, you can match up fairly closely. But trim process will be different than door process to get them close. This will take an expert door finisher (like Beth) with experience in working with different mahoganies to get this right. Don't take this lightly. Takes deft hand and deft technique to pull this off. It would be terrible waste to paint this level of wood. Last resort. Look up The Door Doctor in your area and see who you can find. No painter will be able to do this right. Good luck.

How did doors turn out? What did you do?