How To Use a Stencil With Stain

You guys, I am so excited to share how my doors turned out. It's exactly what I envisioned in my head. I love it when that happens! The process was pretty simple too, which is another bonus.

 

I think with the popularity of stencils these days most of you are pretty familiar with how to stencil with paint, right? I've even spent my fair share of time stenciling, but I wanted this to be different. I really wanted to maintain the linear look of the wood grain that continues across all the cabinets, and paint would just mess it up.

 

I got the idea from deep in the storage banks of my brain. A couple of years ago I was watching Debbie Travis and they stenciled the phrase for hello in a different language with wood glue before the stain was applied. It left the wood in its natural color, but I loved how subtle it looked. So once I had my stencil I mixed up a little wood glue and water together and rolled it over my stencil. Just like you would stencil with paint you want to make sure your coverage is very thin and build it up from there.

 

With the wood glue being pretty much clear it can be a little difficult to see where you have already stenciled. I just tilted the door so that the light would catch the glue to help me see.

 

When you're happy with your stenciling and the glue has dried it is time to stain! I used an old cut up t-shirt to apply stain. Just dip in in the stain and spread it over the wood. Don't worry about where you stenciled, you can stain right over it.

 

Once I finished staining the front I took another t-shirt rag that was dry and rubbed the surface to soak up any extra stain that was just sitting on top. This also helps clean up some of the stain off of the poofs. If you look at the last picture the are much darker than they are in this picture.

 

I left the stain to dry for one day and then applied two coats of poly to finish. But before you poly you will want to sand down the rough edges from the wood glue. It shouldn't take much, I just used a fine grit sponge sander until it was smooth. If you want your finish extra smooth give it a light sanding between coats.

 

Here that are, all back where they belong!

 

 

I really love how the wood grain continues through the dandelion poofs. I'm even happy with the way the stain and glue edges kind of feathered together.

 

And how they are all a little different thanks to some of the glue mixture seeping under the stencil.

 

 

Here's the whole room! You might be sick of hearing this but, I love it! I lurve it so much.

 

Now I just need to figure out what to do for the countertop. So, have you come up with an interesting way to use a stencil? Would you ever try this technique? If you do I would love to see it!

 

Nikki Kelly