Best way to match stain?

[El Guapo]

My MiL has a vanity with double cabinet doors and wants drawers. Where the left cabinet door is, I will be installing a false drawer (top) and two functional drawers (middle and bottom). My best guess is that existing vanity is all maple, so I’m using maple for the drawer fronts and face pieces.

So… how the heck am I supposed to get close enough on matching the existing stain? Follow up question deals with finish, but I think that might be a tad easier to match. Do I just buy three tints that look close, come home and try them, return them and get three more and try them, etc. until I have it good enough for her 58 year deteriorating eyes?

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

Those are usually finished with toner in the finish kinda like polyshade. If you take the door in to your local paint store, they can often computer match these things.

 

[Tony]

Take the door off and go to a HD, Sherwin Williams, etc. They can scan it and custom make a stain.

 

[rob3232]

You may have luck matching the stain on the Maple but if it were me I would try to persuade her to let it be painted and save the headache. Just my humble opinion.

 

[El Guapo]

You may have luck matching the stain on the Maple but if it were me I would try to persuade her to let it be painted and save the headache. Just my humble opinion.

Haha, I have already laid the ground work with that possibility. I told her I would do my best to match stain, but it may be easiest and look best to paint it all.

 

[Arn213]

All of these are sound advice. I am going to let this idea fly and an option- yes, this is unsolicited advice, but I will give you my sincere professional “inferior design” advise (as Lil’ Mikey would say). The obvious is the hardest challenge you have is to match existing- difficult task because it is a stain. What happens with stain finishes is they develop a patina over time. So you have this difficulty of “marrying old and new”. It will be a challenge not just finding the base stain, but it might requiring “tinting” or using a “toner” to match it as close as possible. You also need to know what type of maple species that is existing, because naturally they have different shades in its natural state. You don’t want the existing when you stain be a shade or tint different than the new or vice versa. So these are the given challenges.

This is what I would personally do with this project. When clients wants something functional to be retrofitted into an existing- it will fit the requirement of function, but it doesn’t always mean it would look aesthetically correct and balance. In a practical view point- the drawers should be on the right. This way, you can still open the drawers on the right hand side and pickup what you need there and still be able to shuffle left and have space clearance (say for a woman to do their hair or make up)- if you did it the way your MIL proposes then you have that awkwardness and not have a more workable clearance. That is in a design point perspective. My solution is fairly simple and it means keeping what the existing conditions intact. That means the door stays. What changed is the right hand door side, you create a drawer box compartment that slides into the cavity- guess what if you want more plumbing clearance, the drawer boxes can easily just pop off the glides. You end up with an interior drawers inside and allow for filler for drawer clearance and for access to plumbing shut off valve. You can use birch as it is very similar to maple. Staining it would be easier because you can get close to the base stain and if it is a shade or tint off, it will look alright as it will be concealed by a door.

 

[2feathers Creative Making]

That is excellent advice. The option for flush drawers are pretty darn many... I have even seen raw, clear finished drawers hidden behind those perfectly finished matched doors.

 

[El Guapo]

All of these are sound advice. I am going to let this idea fly and an option- yes, this is unsolicited advice, but I will give you my sincere professional “inferior design” advise (as Lil’ Mikey would say). The obvious is the hardest challenge you have is to match existing- difficult task because it is a stain. What happens with stain finishes is they develop a patina over time. So you have this difficulty of “marrying old and new”. It will be a challenge not just finding the base stain, but it might requiring “tinting” or using a “toner” to match it as close as possible. You also need to know what type of maple species that is existing, because naturally they have different shades in its natural state. You don’t want the existing when you stain be a shade or tint different than the new or vice versa. So these are the given challenges.

This is what I would personally do with this project. When clients wants something functional to be retrofitted into an existing- it will fit the requirement of function, but it doesn’t always mean it would look aesthetically correct and balance. In a practical view point- the drawers should be on the right. This way, you can still open the drawers on the right hand side and pickup what you need there and still be able to shuffle left and have space clearance (say for a woman to do their hair or make up)- if you did it the way your MIL proposes then you have that awkwardness and not have a more workable clearance. That is in a design point perspective. My solution is fairly simple and it means keeping what the existing conditions intact. That means the door stays. What changed is the right hand door side, you create a drawer box compartment that slides into the cavity- guess what if you want more plumbing clearance, the drawer boxes can easily just pop off the glides. You end up with an interior drawers inside and allow for filler for drawer clearance and for access to plumbing shut off valve. You can use birch as it is very similar to maple. Staining it would be easier because you can get close to the base stain and if it is a shade or tint off, it will look alright as it will be concealed by a door

All of these are sound advice. I am going to let this idea fly and an option- yes, this is unsolicited advice, but I will give you my sincere professional “inferior design” advise (as Lil’ Mikey would say). The obvious is the hardest challenge you have is to match existing- difficult task because it is a stain. What happens with stain finishes is they develop a patina over time. So you have this difficulty of “marrying old and new”. It will be a challenge not just finding the base stain, but it might requiring “tinting” or using a “toner” to match it as close as possible. You also need to know what type of maple species that is existing, because naturally they have different shades in its natural state. You don’t want the existing when you stain be a shade or tint different than the new or vice versa. So these are the given challenges.

This is what I would personally do with this project. When clients wants something functional to be retrofitted into an existing- it will fit the requirement of function, but it doesn’t always mean it would look aesthetically correct and balance. In a practical view point- the drawers should be on the right. This way, you can still open the drawers on the right hand side and pickup what you need there and still be able to shuffle left and have space clearance (say for a woman to do their hair or make up)- if you did it the way your MIL proposes then you have that awkwardness and not have a more workable clearance. That is in a design point perspective. My solution is fairly simple and it means keeping what the existing conditions intact. That means the door stays. What changed is the right hand door side, you create a drawer box compartment that slides into the cavity- guess what if you want more plumbing clearance, the drawer boxes can easily just pop off the glides. You end up with an interior drawers inside and allow for filler for drawer clearance and for access to plumbing shut off valve. You can use birch as it is very similar to maple. Staining it would be easier because you can get close to the base stain and if it is a shade or tint off, it will look alright as it will be concealed by a door.

Okay, we have a winner! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that… such a simple and (should be) obvious solution!

The reason for drawers on left is that this is a very small bathroom and the bathroom door would obstruct the drawers if they were on the right side (unless the user closes the bathroom door completely, which isn’t convenient with the bathroom setup). I think she will be thrilled with the hidden drawers.

 

[Sprung]

I agree with Rob - if you're going to be putting drawers in place, your best bet is to paint and it all matches. No need to go through a lot of work for a finish that ends up still not matching 100%, no matter what you do.

The hidden drawer idea that Arn brings up is what I would do in this instance - and is something I almost did in a previous house we lived in, but never got around to. You still get the drawers, but you don't have to do anything to the exterior or try to match anything.



(Not my pic.)

 

[El Guapo]

I got the green light for the concealed drawers. That was a great suggestion!

 

[larry C]

Take the door off and go to a HD, Sherwin Williams, etc. They can scan it and custom make a stain.

For whatever it's worth, I've done the same thing for years. Don't forget to take a small piece of the new wood that you are trying to match to the old, it'll make their job a lot easier.....