Touch-up Cabinet Staining

So – just a quick tip – – this is probably the completely wrong way to use stain, but it worked for what I needed…

I’m not against painting cabinets – I’ve done it several times – but it’s a big time commitment and I was going minimal on this remodel, so I decided to leave the cabinets as-is.  But they needed a little refreshing and new handles.

To cover the wear-and-tear spots, and the spots where the old handles were, I just took a little stain on a paper towel and wiped it over the cabinets – the tops of the doors were the place it needed the most.

I know you should probably sand the clear varnish coat off cabinets and prep them, etc, before staining them, but this was just a touch-up job.  My theory was that the nicks and dings that needed touch-up probably already had the varnish scraped off.  Then the stain would adhere where it was needed and just wipe off of the areas where it wasn’t needed.  And it worked!  The left door I had wiped stain over the old hardware spots and the right was how it had been:

It’s not a huge difference, but I think it’s noticeable to me and makes the cabinets look a little refreshed:

Whole Master Bathroom reveal, coming soon!