How to Apply Glaze to Darken Natural Maple Cabinets
Maple is a hardwood that is commonly used in making kitchen and bathroom cabinets. It is just about the lightest wood you can use for cabinets. If you'd like darker cabinets, you can apply wood stain. Wood stains come in many types and levels of darkness. You can make the maple take on the color of an entirely different wood, or just darken it slightly to match your design scheme. This article assumes that your cabinets are already installed, but if they aren't, then you can skip ahead to the step that you need. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Fine-grit sandpaper and sander,
- Screwdriver,
- Clean cloths,
- Drop cloths,
- Painters' tape,
- Rubber gloves,
- Staining pads or rags,
- Stain,
- Wood varnish or finish
Instructions
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1
Remove the doors and drawers from the cabinets. Label the doors and drawers and their coinciding cabinet slots so you know where each door and drawer will go after you've stained them. You can use masking tape or a similar marker.
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2
Remove the hardware, which would include handles and hinges, from the doors, drawers, and cabinets. Package the hardware and sandwich bags or other container, and label these objects, too, so you know where to replace them.
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3
Use your sand paper to remove any varnish on the cabinets, doors and drawers. The varnish will be just a glossy finish. Sand only until this glossy finish is removed. You may want to sand by hand any decorative woodwork on your doors and drawers, and around any molding around the tops of the cabinets.
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Use a clean cloth to wipe away all grit and dust left over after sanding. If necessary, use a firm-bristled paint brush to make sure grit is thoroughly cleaned out of fine woodwork.
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Lay a drop cloth under the area you'll be staining, and tape off the walls and ceiling around the cabinets you'll be staining so you don't stain these areas. Also tape off any parts of the cabinet you may not want to stain, such as the insides of the cabinets and drawers. Open doors and windows to make sure the room, where you'll be painting, is well ventilated.
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Lay flat as many of the pieces as possible, such as cabinet doors, because this will help ensure even staining.
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Shake your can of stain for several minutes to make sure its color will be uniform. Open the can, and use a stick to stir the contents further if it has swirls of different colors. Put on your rubber gloves.
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Start with staining either your cabinets or the doors and drawers. Dip your staining rag or pad into your stain and start rubbing the stain into your wood. Apply enough stain to sink into the wood grain; you don't want to apply the stain sparsely.
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Be careful when applying stains near areas you don't want stained. Apply the stain lightly here because stain my seep under the tape or bleed through the wood and into the area you don't want stained.
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Allow the stain to sink into the wood for a few minutes, then wipe the excess stain off with a clean rag. Pieces that you cannot lay flat, such as installed cabinets, should be wiped off immediately after you've applied the stain. Otherwise, too much stain might drip down, causing an uneven appearance. Follow the wood grain when removing the excess stain, and make sure not to touch the wood with anything except the rags to ensure you don't smudge the stain.
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Let the cabinets and pieces dry completely. Depending on the type of stain you used, this can take anywhere from several hours to overnight.
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Apply a coat of varnish or finish to the cabinets and pieces, and allow it to dry completely. This will again take anywhere from several hours to overnight.
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Use your tags to help you place your pieces in the appropriate places when reassembling your cabinets.
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Tips & Warnings
To help identify how to replace doors and drawers, you can assign numbers to the shelves and drawer spaces that correspond to the doors and drawers. You may even want to draw a map of your cabinets so you remember the numbers. You can label the corresponding doors and drawers with marked tags. When you have to remove identifying tags from your cabinet pieces, just move the tags with the pieces, sticking them nearby so you are able to readily identify the pieces.
True to its namesake, stain will stain everything it touches. While you can use acetone or thinners to help with cleanup, you may never be able to return accidentally stained objects to their previous appearance. Use drop cloths liberally to protect anything you don't want stained. Allow rags to dry completely before disposing of them after you've completed your projects. Otherwise, these rags can be a fire hazard.
