Hate is a strong word. Maybe I’m just tired and frustrated and it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. , and I’m not at all happy with the results.
I was going to use Cabot Australian Timber Oil, but chose the Jarra Brown color based on actual wood color swatches I saw in the store.
I wish I had taken a picture of Jarrah Brown’s wood samples at Lowe’s. It was very beautiful. It was a medium to light brown with no immediately noticeable undertone. It was a very neutral medium/light brown and was exactly what I wanted.
But when I opened it, stirred it, and tested it on an inconspicuous board on the front porch, redI don’t mean subtle reddish either.was it redI went to Lowe’s website to see what the heck was going on. As I scrolled through the customer photos on Jarrah Brown’s list, the colors seemed to be all over the place, from medium brown to very red. Obviously the differences are due to being applied to different types of wood, but the results were very diverse! .
I forgot to take a picture of the front door sample, but this is pretty close to what it looks like.
I am very happy that the customer is happy with the results, but to say it was the exact opposite of what I was hoping for would be a huge understatement. It looks like
I didn’t feel like going back to see other colors. I had already spent quite a bit of time in the deck stain aisle at Lowe’s and Home Depot reading labels, comparing sample colors, and researching customer reviews. Close your eyes, spin around a few times, and then point to a random tin of stains and have as good luck choosing a color.
So I decided to go back to my previous selection that I had already purchased and had at home. This is a dark walnut lady seal. I wanted to go a little lighter this time, but I really liked the dark walnut front porch for the first time, so I decided to keep it. But the first time I used another brand. This time, we decided to use Lady Seal, which has been highly rated by our customers. And this was much better than Cabot’s Jara his Brown.
Well, I don’t like it. When I dyed my porch for the first time in 2018, I used Thompson’s Dark Walnut Timber Oil.
It’s really dark, but it was beautifully neutral and looked so pretty with the white trim and coral doors.Here’s how the Ready Seal Dark Walnut turned out…
It’s orange. It became an orange entrance porchI sidestepped the awful red with Cabot, but quickly went to the orange with Lady Seal.
i am so frustrated now. I know I’m the queen ofIf you don’t like it, redo it!But my studio cabinets will be delivered tomorrow and I can’t wait to redo the front porch. literally the last thing in the world I want to concentrate on now.
But this sucks. That Thompson dark walnut looked so pretty on my coral front door.This orange color clashes and I don’t think I can live with this color. , it’s not what I want for this to be the first impression of our home.
The good news is that it doesn’t look so bad from afar. It’s not great, but it’s not bad. (Forgive the sanding dust for forgetting to vacuum the siding before staining the porch.)
It looks orange from a distance. And it still collides with the front door. It’s just not that noticeable from a distance. But the closer you get to the front door, the porch becomes more and more orange.
So now I have to find a way to fix this. I called the company and the lady I spoke to said they had a color called Mission Brown that was darker with no orange/red undertones (a color I didn’t see on the sample card… hmmm !), and I can use it to do another coat over dark walnut to cut the orange. As far as I’m concerned the orange/red color of this dark walnut is not good enough to cut. You need a real green or a bluish green to counteract this orange/red color. A neutral brown (as she described) might not be enough. , that’s one option.
She also said some contractors add pigment to the stain to get a custom color. . Because this will be something I’ll have to try at my own risk (i.e. they’re not to blame if the sealer’s performance fails, obviously), but it’s still something I might consider It has to be a pigment that is compatible with oil based products. You can also check to see if the color runs out.
So I haven’t figured it out yet. But what I do know is that having an orange wooden front porch that clashes with a coral door isn’t an option, so we’ll have to come up with a solution.
As far as the product itself (color aside), Ready Seal looks pretty great. I used a large 4 inch brush for oil based products and it went on very easily and smoothly. I stirred it a few times during application just to get it to work.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where my husband Matt and I share our DIY and decorating journeys as we modify and decorate a 1948 Fixer upper that I bought in 2013. Do the housework yourself. You can find out more about me here.
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