Stain Soliloquy
We headed out last night to pick up the sample trim (I’ll save that topic for tomorrow) and to begin stain shopping. As mentioned, I am rather nervous about choosing a stain because after all the work of getting the old paint and finish(es) off, I want to make sure the color is perfect. At first I figured the task would be relatively easy, surely there are at best 20 or so stain colors out there to choose from- we just take our best guess and see how it works out. So we head to Sherwin Williams. Now I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it before now, but I am rather engrossed with several other people’s home renovation/restoration blogs, all which can be found on www.houseblogs.net. The best part about this site is that you can search for a term, and it will comb through all of the sites out there- at this point 459 and it will bring up any posting with those terms. It’s enormously helpful because you can read about other people’s techniques, products they’ve used, see their ‘after’ pictures, etc. Needless to say it has been enormously informative. So after reading up on the different brands and quality of stains out there, which I learned is measured by how deeply and quickly it penetrates, how much stays to the surface to give you the color you want and how many different coats it takes to reach that color, I decided Sherwin Williams’ stain would be the way to go. We stopped at one on our way home, headed over to the wall of stain colors, and I began nervously eyeing them to figure out which one I would probably least regret once we covered our freshly stripped trim with it. After a little back and forth, Clint and I settled on what was called Walnut Wainscot.
We meandered over to the clerk so that he could mix our selection- when he dropped the bomb- they could custom match any color. Not only that, but they can try it on a sample piece of wood that you bring in until they get it right. Now to some this might be a relief. Every option is open and it can be exactly matched to whatever you want. For me- it only created an almost nonsensical dialogue inside my head. It went something like this...
“Any color, great! We could bring in the vase that Clint made for me for our anniversary. When we picked out paint colors for the wall we held it up to the trim and decided we wanted the trim walnut based on its color. But wait- if there are only ten colors to choose from on the other wall, then someone had to have chosen those colors. Some Sherwin Williams wood color expert must have combed through every possible wood color and compared it to paint palates and furniture colors, etc. to have decided that those are the best ten wood shades in existence. Not only that, but the stain used on the vase was the same as that used on the jewelry box makeover, and that (I realized in hindsight) was a cheap stain, as evidenced by the copious coats it took to achieve the color. So what if, because it was a cheaper product, the wood color expert person that chose that color palate wasn’t as good, or smart, or talented as the one that worked for Sherwin Williams. Is it fair to deny the Sherwin Williams expert a fair chance to prove that their color is superior or is this being a brand snob? Were all the colors just randomy computer generated? Should we just go with the color we like enough? Do we even like it enough? But is choosing the old color foreclosing on the opportunity that we might love the Sherwin Williams color even more and we just don’t know it yet?!”
By the time I came to I found the Sherwin Williams clerk staring at me, so we just grabbed our stain samples and bolted, to consider these questions in the privacy of our own home. We haven’t come up with an answer yet, but I’m leaning towards choosing our original walnut wainscot selection and trying it out. It’s a rich medium to dark tone brown, not red, but not too gray. I’m a bit afraid of going too dark, but every time I see trim in a house that I love it’s always dark so I guess we’ll just go with it. Worst case scenario we just slap a coat of paint on it. Ha, that’s a funny joke. Because that will never happen.
We meandered over to the clerk so that he could mix our selection- when he dropped the bomb- they could custom match any color. Not only that, but they can try it on a sample piece of wood that you bring in until they get it right. Now to some this might be a relief. Every option is open and it can be exactly matched to whatever you want. For me- it only created an almost nonsensical dialogue inside my head. It went something like this...
“Any color, great! We could bring in the vase that Clint made for me for our anniversary. When we picked out paint colors for the wall we held it up to the trim and decided we wanted the trim walnut based on its color. But wait- if there are only ten colors to choose from on the other wall, then someone had to have chosen those colors. Some Sherwin Williams wood color expert must have combed through every possible wood color and compared it to paint palates and furniture colors, etc. to have decided that those are the best ten wood shades in existence. Not only that, but the stain used on the vase was the same as that used on the jewelry box makeover, and that (I realized in hindsight) was a cheap stain, as evidenced by the copious coats it took to achieve the color. So what if, because it was a cheaper product, the wood color expert person that chose that color palate wasn’t as good, or smart, or talented as the one that worked for Sherwin Williams. Is it fair to deny the Sherwin Williams expert a fair chance to prove that their color is superior or is this being a brand snob? Were all the colors just randomy computer generated? Should we just go with the color we like enough? Do we even like it enough? But is choosing the old color foreclosing on the opportunity that we might love the Sherwin Williams color even more and we just don’t know it yet?!”
By the time I came to I found the Sherwin Williams clerk staring at me, so we just grabbed our stain samples and bolted, to consider these questions in the privacy of our own home. We haven’t come up with an answer yet, but I’m leaning towards choosing our original walnut wainscot selection and trying it out. It’s a rich medium to dark tone brown, not red, but not too gray. I’m a bit afraid of going too dark, but every time I see trim in a house that I love it’s always dark so I guess we’ll just go with it. Worst case scenario we just slap a coat of paint on it. Ha, that’s a funny joke. Because that will never happen.
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