I Hate When SWBO Changes Her Mind

[Mike Hollis]

So I am in the process of making a bed out of solid fir 8-panel doors and 4x4 posts for the legs. At first SWMBO decided she wanted it painted white, so I bought poplar for the posts to save some money.

Sadly she she has now changed her mind and wants it stained dark walnut. Do I need to do anything special so that the poplar and fir look even when stained?

Thanks,

Mike

[Steve Schoene]

Two thoughts come immediately to mind. Why would poplar 4x4s be more affordable than Fir? Regardless, if you place any value on your time, it will likely be cheaper to remake the legs with fir. Fir takes stain, and dye, quite a bit differently than poplar. My tendency would be to start with dye. It will have less zebra effect on the fir and less blotch on the poplar than typical stains. You may then be able to obscure enough of the divergent grain patterns with gel stain.

What about painting dark brown color. Tint BIN a bit to make it easier to cover, apply two coats, then sand to eliminate the fir grain stripes, or other defects. Then top coat with oil based enamel in the desired sheen.

[Mike Hollis]

8/4 poplar was available at my supplier, whereas the fir wasn't. I just bounced the dark brown paint idea off of her majesty, and she agreed.

Not sure what BIN is, can you explain?

Thanks for the help.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Steve...it's going to be very difficult to get those legs to look anything like the fir with stain/dye and then clear coat. They don't resemble each other at all. It's not just about the color...you can futz around and eventually find a combination that will get the legs to have a similar hue to the fir parts, but they will still look totally out of place. Source some fir to remake the legs... ;) ...

[Kent A Bathurst]

Do I need to do anything special so that the poplar and fir look even when stained?

Nope. Nothing special. Very simple, in fact: File the poplar. Get new fir posts. Proceed per plan.

What?? You wanted an easy out? Get real, brudda. :D

Anything you try from here on out would be simply digging the hole deeper. Instead, throw the shovel away. Take the multi-decade view - you have no choice. In fact, you never did - you simply took the head-fake on her first move toward the basket.

Spoiler alert: Won't be the first time this happens, Mike.