My Favorite Stain for Douglas Fir

When Alex starting building the big barn doors for the bonus/rec room, I already had a few tried and true go-to stains in mind. The only problem was, when he went to go stain the wood, it did NOT look the way it usually does on pine or oak (watch the video below of my reaction if you haven’t already!) and (spoiler) I did not love it.

I didn’t know this before, but Douglas Fir tends to pull really red, so when you stain it using a warmer color, it will look pretty red/orange. Normally I like using the Fruitwood stain by Minwax for pine because it has a warmer tone, but it looked way too red/orange on the Douglas Fir.

Here is the Fruitwood Stain on Pine

I also like using Weathered Oak on oak or pine, but that one ended up pulling way too gray. I think because Douglas Fir has so many knots, and the wood grain varies, you don’t get a uniform color like you would on pine or oak. This makes certain parts of the grain pull way more of the stain than other parts.

Here is the Weathered Oak stain on Pine

After multiple attempts with the semi-transparent oil based stains (I even tried mixing stains together to try and achieve the color I was going for) with no luck, Alex suggested we try gel based stain. I went and grabbed about 4 different colors (I didn’t love any of the stains to be honest because they looked too rich and dark) to try and mix a few together.

I ended up adding mixing the White with the Colonial Maple to finally get the color I was looking for. I kind of eyeballed it, but I think it’s pretty close to about a 50/50 ratio. You basically want it to look like a chocolate milkshake.

I did just one coat of stain, and it was plenty enough. Because it’s gel stain, when you apply a second coat over the first, it can sometimes look blotchy.

There were mixed reviews about the stain color (some people liked the fruitwood stain better), but I was looking for an earthy tone and I think this mixed stain achieves that look! I also wanted the barn doors to complement the floors, and not be too different in tone.

I am really happy with the way it turned out! If you’re looking for a toned down brown stain for Douglas Fir, try this one!