How to Stain Woven Wood Shades

You will learn several methods of staining woven wood shades

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Stain
• Paint brush or foam brush
• Tery coth or lint free cloth rags.

1. If your shades are already stained, you can give them a faux (illusion) of being re-stained without sanding them down and starting from scratch.
   If they are new and raw... It will be easier.

2. I prefer to use water base products as there are so many good ones on the market.
   Apply the stain on untreated wood with a soft bristle paint brush or sponge tip brush. Apply quickly and liberally. Immediately wipe the stain off looking for drips. Make sure you operate the shades while drying to make sure they do not stick in one position. It is always best to do both sides quickly at the same time. It is not too difficult to apply everything at once on smaller shades and in sections on larger shades. Just wipe everything off quickly.

3. If the result is too light, wait for them to dry and reapply more stain.

4. If they are one color and you want them to appear a different color of wood, base coat them with a beige/tan color and then paint them with a color that is closest to the stain you want and drag the color with an old brush or small broom to give the wood grain effect.

5. If you want something more dramatic or different, paint the shades a solid color or series of colors and add wall paper or paint designs on the shades so that they look like artwork when closed.
   You can also spray paint them lightly from a distance of 9-11 inches several times keeping them operational as you go to prevent freezing up. This is where most people get impatient and want to spray quickly and get it over with fast. DO NOT DO THIS! This will cause drips and will look tacky. If it takes three, four, even 5 or 6 light coats to get the desired color or result... do it. Always check from the bottom to the top so as not to miss any spots.

6. FOR TIGHTER WOVEN SHADES: If your shades are tightly woven... I usually prefer to take spray paint, or watered down water base paint or stains and apply them with an old terry cloth towel or washcloth. This is fast and simple and beats the heck out of the wide blade shades!
   Just remember to keep your cords in a plastic bag and out of the way.

7. Something else you can do is add a thin fabric or special paper to the back of your shades to help change the colors that come through or add privacy!

Tips & Warnings

• If you can hang these shades from a secure area so as to be able to paint hem from all sides and still operate the movements... even better.
• Place the string pulls in a plastic bag so they do not get painted and stiff.
• Have fun with it. You can paint stripes, attach posters and paper prints on closed shades by applying a glue base and a spray protectant when finished. You can cut the pieces ahead of time or mount the whole poster and trim with an exacto knife or other blade tool.
• If your shade are really bad... wallpaper or contact paper them in the center of each strip for a framed two-toned effect.
• Keep the shades moving often while drying. This is why I recommend water base products, because most of them dry quickly within a few minutes. It is like stirring spaghetti.
• Practice several ideas/styles on an old shade you get at Goodwill or from the trash.