I just bought a new Feather River door…it’s an exterior fiberglass door with their “cherry mahogany” finish.
http://www.featherriverdoors.com/exterior/carmel/cmlGalleryMah.html
I would like to install some matching casing. I know it won’t be 100% percent exact but I would like to get it as close as possible. I’ve done very simple stain projects, eg buy wood, buy stain, apply stain and poly and accept the final color it results in.
In “language that this novice can understand”, what steps do you recommend I take so that I can match the finish?
I’ll have to check out the lumberyard to see what species they offer their mouldings in. Oak is too grainy for my taste. I like poplar for it’s lack of grain and knots but I don’t see much trim available in poplar.
Any other woods you recommend? I don’t have a molding machine so I have to go with what’s commercially available.
Replies
See if there isn't a custom millwork outfit nearby that'll be able to provide mahogany, or recommend another wood.
Are you talking interior or exterior trim?
Interior.
Well mahogany and cherry really are not all that close in appearance so pick the one that is.
From the link that you provided and not spending a whole lot of time on it I found the two samples of color, on the cherry one I'd guess that cherry wood resembles it the most. Mahogany is a little bit more open grained and doesnt match at all, at least in the pic that I viewed.
Try getting some samples of wood that you can do a good comparison check with. Hard to take the door to the wood shop and do a good comparison check with.
You should be able to get a few chunks of off-fall from any wood shop/wood supplier for little or nothing.
When you get down to color matching you can go to a good paint store, not the big boxes either, and they usually have someone that can do a stain match fairly well. Be careful though, cherry will darken with time.
Doug
Try analine dyes (lee valley, etc) , mix and match till you get what you want.
What the others said about staining. You just have to play around with colors until you get what you want.
On wood species, will the trim be exposed to the elements, or is it under cover, like on a covered porch? If it's exposed, I'd stay away from poplar and use something like cedar or white oak -- tho' white oak's grain pattern may not be a close match to your door.
Another option would be to pick up a good book on faux finishing. It's really not all that hard to get a handle on, with a little practice. You basically paint the wood to look like the door. (It's also pretty much how the factory got your fiberglass door to look like cherrt or mahogany.) If you do this, you could even use Azek on the exterior for excellent weather resistance.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Edit: I just saw that you're only concerned with the interior. Why not just get cherry or mahogany trim (depending on your door color)? You may have trouble finding it stock, but a decent cab shop should be able to make some up for you.
Edited 5/22/2008 9:24 am ET by MikeHennessy
Featherriver describes it as a mahogany door with a cherry finish. I'll take a look at a few lumber yards and mill shops (if I can find any) and try to match it.