How to Stain Wood with Household Products

This post shares how to stain wood with a few household products. This list includes coffee, tea, bleach, vinegar, and red wine.

Have y’all ever “shopped your house” to find a little wood stain? I can’t believe I’ve been refinishing furniture for years and NEVER tried some of these household products to stain wood! I’m sure ALL paints and stains used to come from ordinary household products, especially way back when you couldn’t run up to the hardware store for paint. Grab your glass of wine, a cup of coffee and a couple tea bags because we’re going to have a staining party!

There area so many ways to stain wood today and so many staining products on the market that it’s almost overwhelming! I’ve previously posted about how to apply wood stain over wood stain and how to use wood stain vs. wood dye, but this post is all about staining wood with natural household items. Here’s a full list of other relate wood stain posts here:

Valspar One-Coat Exterior Solid Stain & Sealer Review

How to Stain Wood Stairs Treads without Sanding

Ten Easy Gel Stain Cabinet and Furniture Projects

Wood furniture Makeover with Unicorn SPiT as a Gel Stain in Three Easy Steps

Stained Wood Stairs; Do they Need a Sealer?

How to Stain Wood with Household Products

4 Common Types of Wood Stain with Product Examples

Disclosure; this post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay. This disclosure statement refers to the rest of the amazon links and other affiliate links in this post.

ALL NATURAL wood stains

I want to start by saying that every type of wood will stain differently. If you are serious about using one of these methods, you always need to test the stain first to make sure you get the desired result.

For this post, I’ve used a piece of birch wood.

How to stain or lighten wood with Bleach

Let’s start with Bleach. I’ve only used bleach to stain or lighten wood a handful of times. One thing I’ve learned……. it takes quite a few applications to really see a difference. A few tips on bleaching wood:

• Use a peroxide based bleach. DON’T use a laundry based bleach as it will NOT discolor your wood (I’ve learned the hard way on this one).
• Apply the bleach with a soft rag or paint brush to DRY WOOD.
• Sand the wood after each coat of bleach to create a smooth finish.
• Continue to bleach until you get the desired effect.
• After applying the bleach, placing the wood piece in the sun will help pull the color out

How to Stain or Lighten Wood with Bleach

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Learn how to stain or lighten wood with bleach.

Active Time 2 hours 1 second

Total Time 2 hours 1 second

Difficulty Medium

Estimated Cost 15 dollars

Materials

• Peroxide based bleach
• wood
• lint free cloth
• sandpaper
• paint brush
• sealer or wax

Instructions

1. Apply the peroxide based bleach (don't use regular laundry bleach) with a soft rag or paint brush to DRY WOOD.
2. Sand the wood after each coat of bleach to create a smooth finish.
3. Continue to bleach until you get the desired effect.
4. Apply sealer or wax

Notes

I've only used bleach to stain or lighten wood a handful of times. One thing I've learned....... it takes quite a few applications to really see a difference.

DON'T use a laundry based bleach as it will NOT discolor your wood (I've learned the hard way on this one).

Bonus; sit the furniture piece in the sun to help lighten the color quicker.

How to stain wood with Coffee

How about that old cup of Jo? I’m sure we’ve all spilled a little coffee at some point in our lives and we all know the result; coffee stain. Coffee can stain fabric, but can it stain wood too? Absolutely.

To stain this piece of wood all I did was take a soft rag, dip it in a medium blend roast of coffee, and wipe WITH THE GRAIN on the piece of wood.

I did three different applications of coffee stain to get this look.

How to stain wood with coffee

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Learn how to stain wood with coffee.

Active Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost 10 dollars

Materials

• Brewed Coffee
• lint free rag
• wood or furniture piece
• Sealer or wax

Instructions

1. Dip a soft lint free rag in a medium blend roast of coffee
2. wipe WITH THE GRAIN on the piece of wood
3. Let it dry and continue applying coffee until you reach the desired finish
4. Apply a sealer or wax

How to stain wood with red wine

Red wine stains anything! Am I right? If it will stain your lovely marble countertop, you know it will stain a little wood.

How did I use red wine to stain wood? The same way I used coffee to stain wood. I dipped a soft rag in the red wine and applied it in the direction of the grain with three applications. You can see the finished product below.

How to stain wood with red wine

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Learn how to stain wood with red wine

Active Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost 10 dollars

Materials

• Red wine (any brand will do)
• lint free rag
• wood or furniture piece
• sealer or wax

Instructions

1. Dip a lint free rag in red wine
2. apply it to the piece of wood IN THE DIRECTION of the wood grain
3. After first coat is dry apply another until you are pleased with the finish
4. Use a sealer or wax

How to Stain wood with vinegar

I want to talk in length about staining wood with vinegar. There is a right way to stain wood with vinegar and a wrong way. I did it the wrong way. You can see below that the vinegar did nothing to the wood.

Can vinegar be used by itself to stain wood?

No, Vinegar by itself won’t do anything to wood. You have to add steel wool. The vinegar allows the iron in the steel wool to rust thus giving the solution that dark grayish tint. That dark color is what will stain the wood. Applying straight vinegar won’t discolor the wood at all.

How to make a vinegar/steel wool wood stain solution:

• Add a super fine steel wool and vinegar to a mason jar and don’t cover it!
• Let the solution sit for a couple of days. This is KEY! The darker you want the stain, the longer you need the solution to sit.
• After the solution has reached the desired color, stir it really well.
• After you have mixed your solution, it should be a brown color.
• Use a coffee filter or paper towel to pour the solution through to get rid of the excess pieces of steel wool.
• Apply your vinegar stain with a lint free cloth in the direction of the wood grain.

I’ve seen so many lovely vinegar stained wood pieces! I think I’m going to make this my next furniture staining project. Stay tuned.

How to Stain wood with vinegar and steel wool

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How to stain wood with vinegar and steel wool

Active Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost 10 dollars

Materials

• Super fine steel wool
• vinegar
• lint free rag
• mason jar or cup
• wood
• sealer or wax

Instructions

1. Add a super fine steel wool and vinegar to a mason jar and don't cover it!
2. Let the solution sit for a couple of days. This is KEY! The darker you want the stain, the longer you need the solution to sit.
3. After the solution has reached the desired color, stir it really well.
4. After you have mixed your solution, it should be a brown color.
5. Use a coffee filter or paper towel to pour the solution through to get rid of the excess pieces of steel wool.
6. Apply your vinegar stain in the direction of the wood grain.
7. Use a sealer or wax

Notes

Vinegar by itself won't do anything to wood. You have to add steel wool. The vinegar allows the iron in the steel wool to rust thus giving the solution that dark grayish tint.

How to stain wood with tea

Last but not least is how to use tea to stain wood. Since the pigment in most tea’s aren’t quite as dark as coffee, tea stained wood will look a little lighter than our coffee stained wood.

I used a generic regular black tea bag and let it sit in a cup of hot water. I stirred it real well and then used a soft cloth to apply it to the wood. I applied three applications. Below is what it looked like.

How to stain wood with tea

Print

How to stain wood with tea

Active Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost 10 dollars

Materials

• Brewed tea (make sure it's a dark tea)
• lint free rag
• wood
• sealer or wax

Instructions

1. Brew tea and make sure to stir the tea really well
2. Dip a lint free rag in the tea and apply IN THE DIRECTION of the wood grain
3. Wait for each application to dry and add another until you reach the desired finish
4. Use a sealer or wax

Notes

Since the pigment in most tea's aren't quite as dark as coffee, tea stained wood will look a little lighter than our coffee stained wood.

I know I mentioned on every product to add a sealer or furniture wax after the stain is dry. I don’t think there is a right or wrong sealer to use. The main deciding factor is what kind of use the furniture piece or wood will get. You can see previous posts about how to use furniture wax and how to seal furniture for a high traffic finish.

I hope y’all have learned a little bit about how to stain wood with a few household products.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Lindsey**