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Staining Vinyl Shutters A New Color

Written by Cassity

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How to update faded vinyl shutters with stain #tutorial featured on Remodelaholic

It was bugging me. The shutters….every time I passed the house I would look up…why…why don’t you match your door (that is me…talking in my head…to my house…moving on…) I thought it was something I would just have to grow to love…or wait to replace. Until I found out the goodness that is Gel Stain. Let me give you a little background…

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 Staining Vinyl Shutters

This was the front of our house about a year ago…(sorry for fuzzy pic…only one I could find…) We had a single door with glass sidelights. The door was ivory and the shutters were beige. Nice but not all that special….

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So we decided to replace the single door with some gorgeous double doors with loads of light….I love these doors…

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The doors are a faux wood (vinyl wrapped) insulated door. It is made by Pella. It is the only full light door on the market that fit the opening we were left with after the sidelights and door were removed. My painter friend told me he would be able to stain the new door with a product called Gel stain (made by Minwax). Ok…I said…lets give it a try. Since I had never used this product before I left it to a professional. I watched him apply it…using very little gel stain…and wiping it off immediately leaving some of the faux wood grain to show. It came out perfect. No need to seal with poly…it is built right in. Most folks think these doors are solid wood….the finish is very convincing.

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  So now we were left with this fabulous front door…and shutters that looked a bit blahhhhhh….Until I had another conversation with my painter..

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  “hey…since my shutters are similar material on the outside…do you think we could Gel Stain those to match??” Heck yeah! So the same process on the shutters began. We did have to wait several months because of the weather. You need a couple rain free/frost free days for this Gel Stain to dry properly. Once it is on….it is on…not easily fixed. You need to work fairly quickly too. Brush on half of shutter….wipe off…leaving a bit of a wet edge so you don’t get streaks and lines.

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  We love the updated look!! By the way….we only used about 1/4 of a quart for all these shutters and the door. You don’t need to use a lot of it to get the desired results:) An inexpensive upgrade on the cheap!

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I hope you can come visit me at Cleverlyinspired.com! I am always sharing clever things on a budget 🙂

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Published: August 22, 2013Filed Under: Contributor, Remodel Inspiration By Room Tagged: Cleverly Inspired, Exteriors, Shutters, stain

About Cassity

Cassity started Remodelaholic with her husband, Justin, to share their love for knocking out walls together. She is an interior designer, wife, and mother of two. She and Justin have remodeled three homes from top to bottom and are working on their fourth. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.


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Comments

  1. Melissa G says

    August 22, 2013 at 8:58 am

    Love the updated shutters! They look great. I have to say, IMO, I don’t like doors like that on the front of the house. I feel they are back patio doors. Do love the color on them too!

    Reply
  2. Heather says

    August 22, 2013 at 9:45 am

    Clear front doors? Can’t people see all your business??

    Reply
  3. Liz says

    August 22, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    Oh, I am so excited to see this! Our new house has very blah shutters as well and I have been wondering how best to perk them up without a lot of maintenance. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  4. Laura J says

    August 22, 2013 at 3:52 pm

    MUCH better!!!

    Reply
  5. Bruce Johnson says

    August 28, 2013 at 1:57 pm

    Nice use of the Minwax Gel Stain to get your desired look, Tracie. Always helpful for those vertical surfaces. Great job! – Bruce

    Reply
  6. Ashley Driscoll says

    August 29, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    Absolutely beautiful! I sent to my husband. We are so doing this!

    Reply
    • Justin says

      August 30, 2013 at 8:45 am

      Glad that you liked it. They did a great job!

      Reply
  7. Kristine says

    July 16, 2015 at 2:33 pm

    How is the gel stain holding up on the exposed door and shutters? I have a similar door with no protection from the elements and it’s taking a beating.

    Reply
    • Cass says

      July 17, 2015 at 4:42 pm

      Hi Kristine,
      This is a guest post, so you’ll have to click over to Cleverly Inspired (linked in the post) and ask there. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Laura Bishop says

    July 6, 2016 at 9:55 am

    I love the doors. Can you give me an estimate on how much they run? You can privately email me.

    Reply
  9. Francine says

    December 13, 2016 at 6:15 pm

    What color gel stain did you use?? I love it!

    Reply
    • Stacey says

      May 18, 2017 at 1:14 pm

      The photos above say walnut…

      Reply
  10. Tammara says

    July 16, 2017 at 12:31 pm

    You had the shutters stained in 2013, it is now 2017, how is the color holding up? I plan to have my shutters done in about a month and was curious if you experienced any fading, peeling, etc. Of course it depends on how much sun you get too. I live in VA and my house gets hit with both east (front of house) and west sun (rear). Thanks.

    Reply
  11. Arlene says

    July 17, 2017 at 8:26 pm

    Can you please tell me if the stain has run off at All onto the house ?

    Reply
  12. Nicola says

    August 31, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    Hi what color stain did you use?

    Reply
  13. Melissa Freeze says

    January 3, 2020 at 10:59 pm

    I am wondering if I can gel stain vinyl siding & my garage door, without a lot of prep & technique?

    Reply

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Hey there, I am Cassity! Nice to virtually meet you!

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