Can you stain a piece of Ikea furniture without sanding?

Question

We have a couple pieces of light oak colored furniture from Ikea and want to darken it to a deep cherry color. I believe it is pine and doesn't have a urethane coating. I don't want to sand it as I'm not positive if it is veneer. Are there any stain or rubs that can be used in this situation?

Answer 1

If it is IKEA then it is probably solid pine or veneered MDF. You can look at an unfinished edge to tell if it is solid wood (their veneers are usually not very convincing anyway).
If it is pine, I would recommend sanding it a even if it doesn't look varnished, it could have a matte sealer on it.

Answer 2

Sanding Ikea Furniture

Answer 3

Most of the furniture I've seen there already has a finish. Stain is meant to penetrate into the wood fibers and it won't do that with an existing finish. (They do have some "bare" wood products, but not much.)

You can paint their furniture, but be sure it's not a laminate finish. The paint moisture will raise the thin laminate and will look terrible.

Answer 4

Ikea is great because they often use unfinnished, real wood. If it wasn't finnished when you bought it, it can be stained right away with out sanding. If its been around you house a while you may want to wipe any dirt or oils off of it with a damp cloth. Let it dry and your set.

Answer 5

Try any stain you want. Just use a small amount in an area of the furniture that won't be seen first to see if it works. Good luck.

Answer 6

try on a part of the furniture that wont be seen, scuff sand with 220 grit,clean and then apply stain, may take longer to dry than normal, if the stain takes and dries okay then it should be okay to use on the rest of the table

Answer 7

Yes, but you will most likely need a sprayer of some kind. Get either a polyurethane or lacquer with stain or tint in it. You can also get lacquers that you can tint to the desired shade. If you try this, practice on some scrap wood first.