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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

How Gel Stain Makes Painted Wood Beams Rustic (Again)

Let me start off by saying that I already knew that General Finishes gel stain is one amazing product that transforms furniture quickly, easily, and is a lot of fun to work with. However, I didn't know that it worked over paint, let alone could bring back some rustic glory to the painted beams in our new home. We have learned some tips and tricks in the process that I thought I would share with all of you. Whether you want to stain painted wood beams, or want to try staining over a piece of furniture that is painted, these tips and tricks should help you...


Before I get started on how to easily stain painted wood beams, I want to warn you that this post has a few before and afters in regards to us painting this room too. If you only want to see the beam info, scroll down. If you love before and afters as much as I do, read on...

Here is a bigger picture of our family room, courtesy of Zillow, (since I failed to take a before picture with our stuff in it):


Not my choice of decor, but since that didn't come with the house I didn't need to change that factor. First off, we removed the popcorn ceilings prior to moving in, and the fan had been changed after this picture, but before we purchased the home, (I hate the fan we have now, and am currently mustering up the courage to replacing it. YouTube tells me that changing out a ceiling fan isn't all that hard, but I am scared since we changed out a light in our basement, and after a couple hours of holding up our arms and cursing why the screw wasn't finding the hidden hole, I am afraid of dealing with a heavy fan...to be continued).

Anyway, we knew we needed to paint over the hideous yellow brick fireplace, (makes me want to start singing like Dorothy, but her yellow brick road was much prettier).


A few things are different in this picture compared to the before picture. One, the window frames had been changed by the sellers who lived in the home before us (the before picture was taken to sell this house to the owners before us...confusing I know, but totally not important). Also, we had already painted the wall around the fireplace with Benjamin Moore's Silver Gray (2131-60). The paint before this was a green that was semi-gloss. We didn't like all the shiny walls, and wanted a different color palette in eggshell finish, (to also help hide wall imperfections since they've been through a lot in 42 years). After painting the wall I was worried we had made the wrong color choice, but since we had purchased 5 gallons of it, I wanted to have hope in it.

We painted the fireplace in Sherwin William's Extra White (SW4006) semi gloss. I debated about a different sheen, but knew that it would get a lot of dirt from the fireplace and our boys, and semi gloss would be easier to clean. We also painted the window trims the same color.

We then spray painted the brass fireplace door with the matte black high heat spray paint that Home Depot sells. That stuff blew my mind. I love it.

After painting everything in the blue and white we were a little worried that the room looked "cold". Thankfully the gel stain brought warmth back into the room, and after painting the other walls in the room in Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore (HC-172), everything came together.


So here's how you gel stain a latex painted wood beam:

(I have heard that the chemical properties of gel stain and latex paint shouldn't get along, however our beams are proving that claim false)

Step 1: Tape the ceiling by the beams

The wider the painter's tape, the messier you can be in putting the stain on the beams. We had a few oops when wiping on the stain, but if you use wider tape these oops are less frequent.

Step 2: Lightly sand the paint on the beams

At first we didn't do this, and the staining process took 3x as long (total estimation, but you get the idea). We then decided to try this step and it was sooooooo worth it. Made things so much faster! We took 100 grit sandpaper and acted as if we were just wiping the beams down. What this did was buff off the paint peaks that were painted over somewhat rough wood beams. No need to sand down any smoother or softer since you are using gel stain and don't need to get down to the bare wood.

Step 3: Stain the Paint

Gel stain isn't like regular stain in that it doesn't soak into wood. Instead it goes on top of whatever it is wiped onto. Like I mentioned before, it isn't necessarily made to go over paint. However, we knew we wanted beams to look like wood, and we also knew we were not going to strip the paint off the wood with a stripper or a sander. Gel stain was our only option, and we decided to risk it.

We put a plastic baggy over our hand (disposable plastic gloves work even better, but we are cheap), and then an old sock over that. We dipped our fingertips into the gel stain and used about a tablespoon at a time to wipe onto the beam. We then wiped back and forth in the direction of what way the grain would go, as we gradually covered up the paint.


As you can see, we didn't use very wide painter's tape. I'd recommend wider like I mentioned earlier, to save yourself an accidental wipe of stain on your ceiling.

When I have gel stained furniture I do at least 2 coats, often 3. However, one coat was enough on the beams since we didn't want a uniform color all over since we wanted to emulate a more rustic wood look.

Also, when I gel stain furniture I always use General Finishes gel topcoat. Since these beams will get no wear and tear, and we didn't want a shinier finish than the stain already achieved, we skipped the topcoat.

And that is it! This process is a fairly fast DIY project that barely uses any gel stain. I highly recommend you give it a try if someone has painted your home's wood beams!


And not only has this simple transformation worked for me. Many others have contacted me with questions as they prepared for their beam's transformation, and then followed up with news of success.

So if you have gel stained your painted wood beams, please email me your before and after pictures too!

Other's Before & After's:

Tish Sinclair-Remsnyder contacted me May 27, 2018 with news of her success using General Finish's Java gel stain for her painted white beams. This is what she shared with me:
I can not thank you enough for sharing your advice. I was scared to try and restore the beams in a hallway that my Mom painted years ago. I grew up in this house that was built around 1946...I DID IT!! AND IT LOOKS AMAZING!!! Both parents are gone and we are restoring the house now. I am so thrilled. While I was staining(after a quick 100 sand by hand) my husband would ask a question and I would say "Mimi said to do it like this" lol..anyhow..its beautiful..Thank you so much.

Tish, you really did do an amazing job! Congrats and thank you for sharing!


Lara Sikes sent me these pictures on Feb. 27, 2020, along with this message, "So happy I read your post! Here are my before and after. I did not sand. Took about 2 days to dry."

Lara, they turned out beautiful! Congrats on a job well done!!

87 comments:

  1. Love the transformation!!!!! And really great instructions for using the gel paint!

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  3. How tall are your ceilings?? Our living room is similar and I want to re-stain our 70's brown beams to a darker color similar to this. Did you have to use scaffolding or just a tall ladder?

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    1. Kathryn, I believe the ceilings are about 11 ft tall, (I am going off of when we removed the popcorn from the ceilings, which I am pretty sure that was what the measurement was). We just used a tall ladder to stain the beams, (and my hubby did the highest beam since I am 5'6" and he is 6'1" and those extra inches sure came in handy for him). Thanks for asking and good luck in staining your beams too!

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  4. How tall are your ceilings?? Your living room looks similar to ours and I want to restain our beams! They are a yuck 70s brown and I want them to be dark like these! Did you need scaffolding?

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  5. An unruly child in the home we just purchased had painted the wood beams in her room black with glitter. I tried to strip the paint to at least remove the glitter. After stripping (citra-strip), waiting, then using acetone, it just looks black and brown and glittery.
    So, I am going to use some gel stain and see what happens, I have some from a dresser refinishing project I just worked on.
    Thanks for your inspiration!

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    1. That really stinks! Was she painting while on a bunkbed? I'm trying to picture her glittering the beams in her room :D. Anyway, so glad this post gave you another idea to fix the situation. Best of luck to you!

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  6. How much gel stain did you get through on this project. I have about 7x as many beams within a cathedral ceiling painted in an ugly tan color and was just going to paint over them until I saw your page, now I'm thinking just to paint over them with gel seal and that should bring back the wooden look but this product is not available in Australia without shipping it over so need to know what the expense might be...?

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    1. I used probably a tenth of a gallon of gel stain. General finishes gel stain at Woodcraft is about $70, and I think Amazon sells it too. I am almost 100% positive that you will even have leftover gel stain with the amount of beams you will be doing.

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  7. Hi, you inspired us to do the same with our dining room! Did you use only 1 gal of GF gel stain for your room? I'm wondering how many cans we'll need.

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    1. How awesome that this inspired you! We only used about 1/10th of our gallon since gel stain goes a LONG way so you could get away with a much smaller can with most projects.

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  8. Hi Mimi- Amazing post.. we are wanting to do this at my parents house. 2 Quick questions... they have beams that seem to have just a polyurethane on them.. never painted. Should they sand or do you think it will be fine without it? The guys at Sherwin Williams said the gel stain won’t sink in at all...

    Also, what finish.. eggshell or semigloss did you use? Thanks!

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    1. Thank you Robin for asking. First off General Finishes Gel stain is not paint, thus there isn't a choice in finishes. When I use it on furniture I sand with 220 grit to give the stain more adhesion, but since no one will be touching your beams this isn't necessary. Also gel stain is VERY different than normal stain. Stain is made to sink into wood, but gel stain does not sink in and thus a little bit goes a long way. Paint guys will most likely not know anything about gel stain, and many woodworkers don't either because gel stain has only been around for a few years (I think). I've used gel stain on a ton of different things and love the ease of it, the beauty of it, and it's versatility. I am almost positive you can just apply the gel stain on your parents beams as is. I do not recommend other brands of gel stain though. GF is high quality and it really works well and looks good and the other brands aren't as good. Hope that answers your questions, but feel free to ask more if needs be. Good luck!

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  9. Hi Mimi- great post! This has been so helpful!

    2 quick questions: the guy at Sherwin Williams advised our painter to not use gel stain as it “won’t sink in.” We have never had our beams painted, but they do have a light polyurethane coating... thoughts?

    Also, what finish do you use? Semi gloss or eggshell?

    Thanks in advance!

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  10. Hi Mimi, We have a very similar living room design in the new house we just bought, and were hoping to use gel stain over the painted white exposed beams in the living room. You mentioned that you just used 1 layer of gel stain. Did you wipe off the excess stain?

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    1. When putting on the gel stain we wiped it on in very small amounts and worked it until we liked the look. It worked somewhat differently to the "wax on wax off" technique when putting on gel stain on furniture. Not sure if that answers your question?

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  11. This is awesome! Thank you so much for posting this! We have painted white beams in our house and I just didn’t want to go to the expense of buying beam covers or the work of sanding them down to Raw wood! May I ask what kind of finish you had on the white beams? I haven’t touched ours but they seem like they’re probably semi to high gloss ... I just want to make sure that this will work for us

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    1. Thanks for your compliments and question Brittany! I'd be very surprised if you have high gloss paint on your beams since high gloss paint is rarely used when painting walls let alone ceilings. However in answer to your question, we had flat paint on our beams, one of the most common ceiling paint finishes out there since flat hides imperfections and doesn't attract a lot of attention. If you do have glossy beams I would just sand the beam a little bit more than this article suggests. I'd use 100-150 grit sandpaper, and not sand off the paint, but really act as is you are cleaning it up with the sandpaper...if that makes sense. You'll still have almost all of the paint left on your beams prior to using the gel stain, but the sanding prep will give the stain something to hold onto/adhere to. Best of luck! I'm excited for you!

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  12. Can you explain the difference between, and benefits of, using gel stain instead of just paint?

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    1. Sorry to not have responded, but even though you probably don't wonder about the differences anymore, other readers might be curious. Gel stain has a richness that is more similar to stain than paint, and achieves a much different look. It behaves similar to paint in that it doesn't soak into the wood as much as stain, but it can if you are applying it to unfinished wood and do a very thin coat of it. I like using it because it is so versatile and easy to apply, and can add new life to wooden furniture, cabinets, etc.

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  13. That is a very good question. From my own experience I see the following benefits: 1. Easier and more fun to apply vs paint 2. It looks richer 3. It allows you to see wood grain underneath, and complements wood better 4. It is very similar to a traditional stain look, but doesnt require you to get down to bare wood 5. It is very versatile. Hope that helps answer your question!

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    1. Thank you for answering the above question--I totally agree with your responses!

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  14. Mimi..can not Thank you ENOUGH for your gel stain advice..I just restored painted beams in a hallway in my house built in 1946 and it looks AMAZING!!! My husband would ask me a question and I said Ummm..Mimi said to do it like this. Super happy. Would love to send a picture!!

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    1. Hahaha! Thank you for the good laugh! Although I am just replying to your comment now, I do remember getting your awesome before and after pictures. Thank you so much for sharing--your beams turned out amazing!

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  15. Would you suggest a woodgrain tool as well or just the stain?

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    1. Breinke, I have never used a woodgrain tool, but that sounds intriguing to try. If you decide to try it, I would love to hear how it went and see photos as I am always up for trying new things!

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  16. looks great! I am getting ready to do the same thing to our white painted beams in our living room. So glad I saw this before I bought brown latex paint! what shade or color
    of brown Gf did you use?

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    1. Sorry to take so long to respond, but I used the Java color of General Finishes gel stain. Mahogany I have liked ok, but the walnut color was such a disappointment. I love walnut stain so I was surprised at how much I didn't like that color, but with gel stain not soaking into the wood and allowing the woodgrain to show through, I have found that the Java color achieves the best results for what I am going for.

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  17. Looks great! what shade or color of GF gel did you use for this? colors are so tricky sometimes! I would love to do this on the beams in my living room!

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    1. I used the Java color. Best of luck with your project!

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  18. Hi! I'm not sure if I skipped over it but could you let me know what the name of the color is that you used on the beams? All i found was General Finish's Java gel.

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    1. Yes, the color is Java, which is a very rich brown color. It is very close to espresso stained furniture.

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  19. This looks great! We just had new patio posts/ beams put in and they were a beautiful wood color but when I came home they had been painted white. The builder said it was treated so couldn’t be left exposed. I loved the wood look. Do you think the gel stain over the white without sanding would remedy this? Thanks!

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    1. Definitely, as that is what we had as well. I had heard that it isn't wise to apply an oil based stain over a water based paint, but we did and it turned out great. No need to sand either, just wipe on the stain and you should be good with just the one coat.

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  20. Hi Mimi, I'm in the UK, and gel stain is not so popular or easy to get hold of, Amazon and ebay do it, but I wondered if you could use any brand of gel stain, or is it just Generals that works? currently restoring an old cottage, but the beams have been painted white, this could be a good solution, many thanks

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    1. I have used Minwax and I believe Rustoleum's gel stain as well and find that they do work but they are a less "fun" to work with. I find that they don't apply as easily/smoothly, and take several more hours to dry. Other then that they work as well. Thanks for the great question.

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  21. Hi, Wow, I'd never heard of gel stain before! This is an intriguing option. We are buying a house with beams in every room (even though the ceilings aren't really very tall). Unfortunately, they are painted an odd color. The best approximation I can offer is "sort of taupe." It looks kind of like a blend of mauve and taupe. I really hate it. So... it sounds like everyone is going with a pretty dark brown. I'm wondering if the very dark brown will be too overwhelming in smallish rooms with (probably) 8 foot high ceilings. Also, will the gel work on paint colors other than white, do you think? Thanks for sharing your experience and expertise!

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    1. Great questions, and sorry for my very delayed response. Most of the darker gel stains will do just fine covering up any color of paint, and should achieve the same look as it just sits on top of the color. In regards to having a darker color on the lower ceilings, my guess is that you will be happier with the look in the end than with what you are dealing with currently. To open your rooms up and make the ceilings appear higher, I would definitely just paint the beams white to match the ceilings. But if you want them to stand out, I think you will be happier with the stained look instead of the paint combo you have currently.

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  22. great job! what brand of stain did you use?

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  23. Can you use a light gel stain, say greyish/white tones, over dark stained beams? Wouldn't mind if the dark came through irregularly.

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    1. Great question. I have found that adding a lighter gel stain over a darker stain adds a cool dimension and can achieve some fun results so if you decide to try it I would love to see the results. When applying it, get it how you want it to look because it will dry almost identically to how it looks when you first apply it. Thankfully you can play around with it before it does dry, and could even wipe most of it off if you don't like how it looks (but you would need to do that right away). Best of luck!

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  24. Hello! Loved the transformation you achieved in your photos! I just bought a place that has lots of exposed beams in the main area but they were all painted this awful darker reddish-orange color. Your beams started out white and you stained them to a darker color, but the ones I'm dealing with are already fairly dark and I'd love to get them to something closer to a light honey color. I feel like I might need to paint them white (or some some other lighter color) first and THEN use a gel stain to achieve my desired tone. Have you ever done anything like that? I'd love the input! :)

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    1. Sorry for my late response, but great question. Yes, to get a lighter look you will probably need to lighten your base first. I personally have not found a gel stain color that will achieve a light honey color, but there are new products coming out all the time so maybe there is a good option out there now.

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  25. I assume you work for General Finish? Trying to steer people away from the competition is a dead giveaway.

    Anyway, we have white painted ceiling beams. Do we need to paint them brown before trying this product? Or is the stain brown?

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    1. I have definitely thought of reaching out to them to get a job or at least some kick back for highly suggesting them, but nope, I do not work for them in any way, and I doubt they know about my love for them :). And you do not need to paint your beams ahead of time, the stain is brown.

      Also, I have tried other gel stain brands before and after writing this post, and still am a firm believer that General Finishes makes the best product.

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  26. Hi Mimi, you did an awesome job with the fireplace and the beams, I love it. This just gave me motivation to get started on my product.

    I have one question. I want to use the espresso color in general finishes but i am not finding espresso in a gel stain i only see wood stain. Do you know of any brands i could use that has a gel stain espresso? Or do you think the espresso wood stain from general finishes would do the same as the gel stain. I could possible get away with using the java color but espresso would be a better match.

    Thanks

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    1. Thank you for the kind words and I am glad that you have the motivation to work on your home now too! Java is a very similar match to espresso, but if you have raw wood I would definitely suggest going with a regular stain as I love being able to see the woodgrain through the stain. I just suggest gel stain if it is over a stain with a poly coat on it, or over a painted surface.

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  27. Would this work over beams that are painted a hideous dark brown? Or should I paint over that in white and then use the gel stain over that?

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    1. As gel stain just sits on top of the prior surface, you should be just fine applying the gel stain over your "hideously" painted beams :)

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  28. What are your thoughts on gel stain over painted beams that are pine...not rough beams like it seems like your were. Thanks!

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    1. I think you will get a more sophisticated and modern look with your smooth beams vs the more rustic/rough look of ours.

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  29. Thanks so much for the info and instructions! Your project turned out great. I am wondering how long you let the gel stain sit before wiping if off? I tried it on my white painted stair railings and waited about 30 minutes before wiping it off. Only a bit of the gel stain color (kona/coffee colored) stayed on the railing. Any suggestions?

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    1. When it comes to gel stain you do not wipe it off. When using regular stain you do allow a few minutes and then wipe off the excess, but with gel stain you wipe it on and let it dry. I applied one thin to medium coat on our beams and they took about 6 hours to totally dry. On an area like a railing, I would apply 1-2 thin coats of stain (or 3 coats if you want a totally solid stained look), allowing for 6+ hours of dry time between each coat (wait until it is no longer tacky to the touch), and then apply 3-4 coats of the General Finishes satin gel stain topcoat (also allowing for dry time between coats).

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  30. Thanks for sharing this! My husband and I just bought our first home and have “wood” beams in our kitchen that were painted. I use “ “ because they are foam beams but have the texture of real wood. do you think we would be able to do this on foam beams?

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    1. Most definitely! Gel stain amazes me at its versatility. Best of luck and I would love to see before and after photos!

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  31. Can you use gel stains with painted cabinets.

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    1. Definitely! You're going to want to follow slightly different steps as cabinets get a lot of use and thus need to be prepped before and after for that usage. I wrote another article about using gel stain on a table and chair that will provide those steps: http://www.mimiberrycreations.com/2018/03/easy-updating-magic-using-gel-stain.html

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  32. Love the look. Our family room is very similar right down to the brass fireplace surround. Can you talk more about spray painting the fireplace surround. Did you take the surround off and then spray paint? We have ugly beige tile around the fireplace too, any ideas what to use to paint that?

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    1. I feel your pain! I did take the brass fireplace part down, taped off the glass windows, and sprayed the exposed metal. It was fast and easy. I bought the spray paint for barbecues and other things that can withstand high temperatures. I have not painted tiles, but I have wanted to try it before, and I know that my sister has painted tiles in her shower area and that worked well. I don't have a recommended product, but I believe a quick Amazon search will help you find a highly rated one that should work for what you need.

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  33. Hi Mimi - how hard is it to remove gel stain once it's been applied to wood beams?

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    1. It would be very difficult once it is dried. If it is not dry you should be able to get it off with a little bit of mineral spirits. Once it is dry, I would first try mineral spirits, because you wouldn't have used a poly topcoat on the beam. If that doesn't work, I would try a stripper.

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  34. Did you use the water based or oil based General Finishes stain?

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  35. I love the transformation of the white painted beams to look like rich wood again! I want to know exactly how you were able to do this, as I cannot see myself attempting something like that on my own. I am especially loving the middle picture, where the stain is not quite so dark. Will be awaiting your reply! Thank you!

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    1. I am glad you love how they turned out! Everything you need to know is in the post, as it really is as easy as wiping on gel stain and letting it dry. However, if you have any specific questions please feel free to email me so that I can get back to you faster. Best of luck! You can totally do it as many other readers have already done theirs with great results!

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  36. Hi Mimi! I am currently in the process of gel staining our beams, we did the first coat yesterday and it has been over 12 hours and it is still not dry. If I wipe it, then we are left with the painted white beams and no stain coverage. Did you experience this?

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    1. So sorry that I didn't see your comment until much too late I would imagine. I hope it eventually dried for you. I have never run into this before with General Finishes, but wonder if maybe you're in a colder or more humid environment than we were in when we did our beams. Temperature and humidity can definitely impact drying times. Other gel stain brands I have found take much longer to dry. If you have any further issues or questions, please email me so I can get back to you right away.

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  37. Hello, I know this is an older post, but I am curious if this has been tried on a banister. Our banister is painted white and I really want it to be a dark rich wood. Would this take the traffic a banister recieves?

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    1. Gel stained banisters are very common, and if you're curious about seeing them, you can easily find many on Pinterest and Google. They look great in my opinion. To gel stain a high traffic area you are going to need to do some more prep work before and after the gel stain portion. This article I also wrote shows you more of those steps that you would need to follow: http://www.mimiberrycreations.com/2018/03/easy-updating-magic-using-gel-stain.html

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  38. Have you tried this on a high traffic area. I want to do my painted banister but wonder if the stain can handle the traffic?

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    1. Sorry for my very late responses, but I believe my answer to the question above should address this one as well. Please feel free to email me though if you have any further questions as I am very fast in replying via email.

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  39. Hi Mimi! Thank you so much for posting this!! I am looking to do this in my living room with our ceiling beams. I would like a lighter color stain though. Have you had anyone try it or send you pictures of some they did with a lighter color?

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    1. Unfortunately I haven't tried a very light color of gel stain yet, (and neither have the other readers who have since done their beams,) but I would be very curious how it would look, so if you decide to tackle the project with a lighter color, please share before and after photos!

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  40. Hi! I moved into a house that had glossy painted off white beams. I atttempted to strip them with a sander, paint remove, angle grinder and I can’t do it. I give up. The problem is that some of the beams I got quite clean while others haven’t even been touched. Have you ever tried to gel stain both painted areas and unpainted areas?

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    1. My response is probably now too late, but for others that might be still curious about this, I have found that once you have 2 or more coats of gel stain, whether it was sanded or painted does not matter as the gel stain sits on top of the surface and will completely hide what was underneath within a couple or more coats. Hope that helps!

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  41. We just recently purchased a house with great wood beams throughout. The kitchen and living room were divided by a wall through the center of the house. On the one side, they painted the beams white, while on the other side they left them stained. We are taking the wall between the rooms down. Do you recommend painting the stained side white before we try the gel stain the beams? I would love to just take the white paint off, but the beams are pretty old and the paint is pretty saturated in the wood unfortunately.

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    1. Great question. My response to the question just above yours applies to your question as well. Good luck!

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  42. Hi, thanks for all your help. I can't find the oil based products in CA (I think they are illegal). Have you ever tried this technique with water based gel? Any suggestions/products for CA would be most appreciated.

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    1. Hopefully you have solved this dilemma rather than wait on my response as I don't check comments often. Last I checked I could buy GF oil-based gel stain on Amazon and other websites for around the same cost I could get it at my local Woodcraft. Maybe that will work for you? I have not used the water-based gel stain but hopefully other users or Google can answer to how well it works.

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  43. I finally took the plunge and stained one of my painted beams this weekend! I used the cherrywood stain color and it turned out so well! Had to do two coats since I was a bit shy and did a very light first coat, but it was so fun once I got the hang of it. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Yay! I am so happy that you took the plunge and are happy with the results!

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  44. Hi! I am a designer in Colorado working on a personal project. I have a lot of beams in my 1982 house that are painted in a light grey flat paint. I don’t want the expense of having them wrapped and I just came across your blog. I called the place closest to my house that carries the gel product. I was told to strip them before applying the gel stain. Do you think a light sanding is a better way to go?

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    1. A light sanding definitely makes the gel stain adhere better and this is especially applicable when dealing with furniture or other areas that are going to be used. However, beams are rarely if ever touched so you don't need to worry about pre-sanding as it will adhere to the beam just fine.

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  45. Wood this work on beams that are painted black? Wood be looking for a lighter look as opposed to the espresso like finish.

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    1. I would say that the dark stain would work just fine covering up black painted beams, but I am not sure how the lighter gel stains will work over the dark paint. As gel stain sits on top of the surface it will probably work but as I have not used the lighter stains I can't tell you that with certainty.

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