I have finally removed all the old finish from the dining room woodwork and have started the almost equally painful process of refinishing it. Normally, I think refinishing would be much easier, but I am using the same 5 step process I used on the crown molding. So far, I am almost done with step 1, which is the dye stain. I am using Transtint Golden Brown. I make up 8 ounces at a time: 1/4 ounce dye, 4 ounces denatured alcohol, 4 ounces lacquer thinner. You can see the difference between with dye (on the right), and without.
When I took the hardware off the windows, I was surprised to find the original finish. This is the color I am trying to match. In the course of stripping the woodwork, I realized it was previously painted, then stripped, bleached, and refinished (poorly, I might add). Somehow, through all of that, it appears the window hardware was never removed.
