Customer Reviews for Varathane 1 Qt. Golden Oak Classic Interior Wood Stain (2-Pack)

I have wooden doors that were sanded down and used this product on. Golden Oak??? It is more like dark brown. I am so disappointed. Thought it might dry lighter....nope. Now if I want doors lighter, I will have to sand down (or hire someone again) and do again. So much work & such expense.

Worked perfectly as planned.

I found this product so easy to use on my laundry room cabinet that I got my thirteen year old granddaughter to help me and it can out great.

Excellent coverage and true clear colorless tones. I used as a pre stain before applying dark walnut on pine slabs to help lighten contrasts across softwood grain. It wipes or brushes on and has a barely wet sheen. Have to pay attention to avoid missing spots. Dries quickly and ready for overstaining in 2 hours.

Tried many others and nothing else compares for a quick, easy and even finish. Definitely recommend for any DIY or professional.

I’m beyond obsessed with this stain. I went back and forth with 2 others before settling on this one. It really brought out the beauty of the wood on this table I made!

The color is more gray than we thought but it looked great on this old red oak floor. It looks lighter than the photo shows.

If you're looking for a sleek look, this is the color for you. It only takes 1 coat & you only need to shake or stir before using.

Looks nothing like the photo on the can. I’ve used other shades that applied perfectly, but this applied so poorly. I sanded my wood piece extremely well beforehand, but it looks as if I didn’t at all. The color like murky light gray water. I also stirred my can in a circular motion as directed for a very long time; so it’s not like directions weren’t followed. This ruined my piece of plywood, and wasted my time and money too.

deep rich color, slightly gummy in texture, adhered well. Final effect looks like redwood (on douglas fir 2x10)

This stain is great - loved the color! Trick is to wipe off before it dries - I left it on only 3 minutes and the color was awesome. Showed so Much wood grain detail - if you leave on too long it gets to dark and just looks solid.

Wish I would’ve read the reviews before I used the weathered oak on my brand new unfinished desk. The first coat looks really nice; second coat, the stain turned the wood almost completely gray. Not at all what I was expecting based on the photo on the can and the images associated with this color. I tried oil based polyurethane to hopefully brown up the color a bit, but no dice. Smaller piece in photo is one coat plus poly; larger piece is two coats plus poly. Super disappointed.

used the Red Chestnut color & turned out beautiful. Eady to apply and covered well. Dried quickly.

Good size can for a small job. Went on well with good coverage over a difficult surface. Only problem was it drying time. Remained sticky overnight. Color on can was more of a tan than grey but inside can color was nice.

So easy to use and you don’t need a lot of it to get the job done! Omg wood table looks brand new!

We bought the weathered oak hoping for a nice natural wood color & instead it’s dark gray. We applied it to a bed frame hoping it would lighten, we followed the directions, & it only got darker. We can’t sand it off either. It’s ugly, it’s the wrong color, I hate it, my husband hates it. I don’t know if it was a bad batch of stain but our bed is now ruined & we hate it. Definitely don’t recommend.

This is a really nice color, a mix of light brown and red. I make cornhole sets and this has been my favorite stain so far, I just switched to it.

Great product at great price.

Loved this product, it did get darker each time you applied more stain to your application pad.

I used varathane to finish my wood flooring and it came out amazing. We hired "professionals" years ago and they did a horrible job, left many streaks. So i took it upon myself to get on my hands n knees and hand sand the bad spots on the flooring and went over the rest very lightly. Vacuum debris then wash floor with vinegar. Next day i started to finish the floors with a regular paint brush, laying on the floor, on my stomach. I did 3 coats of high gloss, let each coat dry for 1 full day. It took a total of 5 days to complate from start to finish and they came out beautiful! 4 years later and my floors are still like new!

Product was easy to work with and dried relatively quick.

The Golden Pecan Classic gives the wonderful hues of pecan wood. I really appreciate it's tones on maple or even pine. Easy to work with. No special "tricks" for this stain.

Very stain and excellent color for my console table.

Easy to apply, goes a long way, easy to clean up afterwards.

This stain is a great color but when I bought it, I read on the label to see if it is outdoor stain or indoor stain but nowhere on the container did it say interior or outdoor stain. Now that I am doing a review the title says "interior". I used it outdoors on my bird feeder post. Hope it holds up! I love the color and did not see any outdoor or indoor labels. I don't usually by Varathane brand, and I guess I won't be buying it again.

The smoke gray matched for our project perfectly.

If you're looking for a weathered or farmhouse look on pine board, this is a good stain to use. I put it on blue pine in a bath remodel and it came out great.

Smoke gray color nice

Golden oak is Darker than expected, gave a “dirty” look to the ash/pine wood I was using. Summer oak gave nice warm yellow tones.

Love the color of this stain. Bought it for a headboard project. Wanted to do the whole headboard in it, but the wifey wanted it to be mismatched, so guess which we went with? Stain goes on easy and dries fast. Would definitely recommend Varathane stain and sealer.