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Has anyone ever tried to lighten honey oak trim?

Steph Doyle
last year

Like all 90s houses, I have it EVERYWHERE-trim, doors, cabinets. I know I have the option to darken it with a stain, but has anyone 'successfully' lightened it? Could I see pictures and what you used? Thank you!!

Comments (6)

  • cat_ky
    last year
    last modified: last year

    The only way, you can redo the stain, is to remove it completely with sanding and stripping, and then you can either lighten it or darken it. You cannot put stain over stain, once it has been sealed with poly, or other sealer. Stain needs to soak into the wood, and it cant do that once there is already a finish on the wood. You can, however, sand, prime it, and paint it any color you would like.

  • JT7abcz
    last year

    There are ways to bleach the wood but it's pretty caustic and you'll want to be extremely careful not to let it leach to floors or other surfaces. Furniture is one thing, trim and cabinets would be very tricky.


    Instead of treating all the wood the same, you may want to consider a broader plan which includes painting some of it, changing up what surrounds it, and keeping some of it. There have been remarkable transformations just by painting trim and doors and leaving some cabinets or other wood accents. If you post photos of your place, you may get some valuable suggestions.


    Here's a Before and After article: Oak DIY Makeover





  • PRO
    BeverlyFLADeziner
    last year

    Paint the trim.


  • PRO
    JAN MOYER
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Yes. It's called PAINT. Lots and lots of paint.

  • PRO
    Norwood Architects
    last year

    If you want to retain the wood grain and some of the color of your cabinets and trim you could have all of it pickled. That would require stripping the existing finish from the cabinetry and trim which is no small task. But I think you would like the results. You also have the option of just painting cabinetry and trim but you will lose most of the wood grain and all of the color. Good luck!

  • Debbie Downer
    last year

    As mentioned above staining takes considerable effort, but weigh that against having to sand/degloss anyway to prepare to paint, and then not having to sand/re-paint for a long time. Using a heavy bodied white gel stain such as General Finishes would not require removing every last bit of previous stain and finish but still you would need to be reasonably thorough. The white stain can be tweaked with gray or any other colorant to get some interesting effects. If you love wood and have an adventurous artistic spirit ust get some samples of similar trim from ReStore and experiment for yourself.

    FWIW, another approach might be just to embrace the oranginess of the oak and make it part of an intentional color palette. You must see these other articles on bottom of page that Houzz pulls up that relate to what people post. This one appealed to me - you can see how the contrast with the mint green (opposite on the color wheel) brings out and brightens the red/orange wood tones.... https://www.houzz.com/magazine/kitchen-of-the-week-goodbye-honey-oak-hello-minty-green-stsetivw-vs~54638105

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