... Presumably because it's got a woodstain mixed in with it I found this mixture was less sticky and a slightly thinner consistency than our usual varnish (Dulux Natural WoodShade) meaning less dribbles and bits where the varnish just won't spread. Woodsheen goes on evenly with very few drips, ... Read review
Advantages: Good coverage, easy to use, lovely end result Disadvantages: Pricey for the bigger tins, the colour it ends up isn't the same as the colour on the tin!
...as the mirror frame - Dulux Antique Pine. Either Dulux have got their tins mixed up or their usually pretty accurate colour indicator label has messed up big time! The funny thing is I don't care enough to complain about it because I love the colour the door ended up, a warm golden pine effect which compliments our new red colour scheme perfectly. Just be careful if you're after a particular colour as this may be a problem throughout the range. ...from Homebase but as they're Dulux I'd imagine any of the DIY warehouses will stock it, also try a Dulux Centre if you've got one nearby for heavily discounted Dulux products. This tiny £3.49 tin of Woodsheen has cost us a fortune, I loved the colour of the first door so much we've ended up buying four more pine doors and a 2.5 litre tin of Woodsheen so we can get all the doors in the house the same colour.
I hate decorating. Really, really hate it. Guess what? We're decorating. It's not the actual decorating I hate; I'm pretty decent at painting the walls and don't moan about having to paste the paper for Mark. It's the dire jobs that I hate, the jobs I always get set before Mark goes to work. I'm sure they're the jobs HE hates too and this is why I get lumbered with them. I can understand him being reluctant to let me in the living room with a pot of 'Scarlet Blush' because I remember the brand new sofa when I splashed it but WHY do I have to keep varnishing the doors and glossing the skirting boards? It's boring and it takes ages.
But the last time he set me a job he added a twist. Not only did I have to stain and varnish a door, I had to go to Homebase and choose the stuff. Where to start? An whole aisle and a half just heaving with stains, varnishes, woodgrain effects, pine this and cherrywood that. I found someone to help and as soon as she realised I was a DIY dunce she took the lead, asking hundreds of questions which I didn't know the answer to. To cut a long story short she came to the conclusion that this 'stuff' is the best thing for the job I was about to tackle. According to the Homebase assistant this single pot would both stain the door and varnish it at the same time, cutting my work in half. Usually you have to stain the door, wait for it to dry, stain again, wait again, varnish, wait AGAIN and then possibly one last coat of varnish. One door can become a full days job. What swung me was when she said a small 250ml tin would stain and varnish one interior door, so if I'd made a bad decision I'd only wasted £3.49 not the £27.99 it costs for a huge 2.5 litre pot!
I went home and got to work. Make sure you read the back of the tin because there are all sorts of instructions and precautions they advise you take, the most obvious of which is a warning that the product is flammable. The only precaution I needed was the knowledge that my 7 year old asthmatic daughter wouldn't be coming home until the next day and when I opened the tin I knew I'd done the right thing. Woodsheen doesn't really smell as bad as some other varnishes or woodstains you can buy, but going on what smell *is* there I'd say if you suffer with your chest get someone else to do it and go away for the night!
The only instruction you need to know is to prepare the surface you're about to use the Woodsheen on by lightly sanding it. So simple even I couldn't get it wrong. I rubbed the Dyson over the door afterwards to get rid of the dust and got my paintbrush out.
Don't be put off by the gloopy consistency of the Woodsheen, a quick stir with an old spoon (well, a fairly new spoon actually...) and it thins out to a more manageable looking mixture. It goes on the wood smoothly and I was surprised how easy it was to 'paint' with. Presumably because it's got a woodstain mixed in with it I found this mixture was less sticky and a slightly thinner consistency than our usual varnish (Dulux Natural WoodShade) meaning less dribbles and bits where the varnish just won't spread. Woodsheen goes on evenly with very few drips, each brush stroke spreading a thin layer of colour on the wood. One thing to be careful about is making each stroke clean so you don't keep having to overlap the colour, I wasn't aware of this until I noticed that as the top of the door was drying the colour was darker in thin strips where I'd overlapped the previous stroke. Once I got over this (somewhere towards the bottom of the door) the colour dried much more evenly. A few patches have dried slightly darker but it was an untreated pine door so would have absorbed the colour more intensely in some places than others, these minor imperfections give the door character anyway! When I'd finished a quick rub in white spirit and a soak and the brush was clean, no rubbing away under the hot tap for half an hour and then giving up and chucking the thing in the bin.
It takes around 2 hours for the wood to be touch dry and it dries to a lovely even finish with no runs on the door at all even in the little grooves of the panelling. The door I did looked exactly how I wanted it to with just one coat giving a matt finish with a very subtle sheen but we've since brought the larger tin and have painted the bathroom door using two coats which gives a much shinier varnished look.
The only problem I have with Woodsheen is the finished colour on the untreated wood was nowhere near the colour shown on the tin. I picked the tin up expecting Natural Beech which was pictured as a light golden colour, very similar to the original pine of the door. What actually came out of the tin was a golden syrup colour which has dried to the exact same colour as the mirror frame - Dulux Antique Pine. Either Dulux have got their tins mixed up or their usually pretty accurate colour indicator label has messed up big time! The funny thing is I don't care enough to complain about it because I love the colour the door ended up, a warm golden pine effect which compliments our new red colour scheme perfectly. Just be careful if you're after a particular colour as this may be a problem throughout the range.
Woodsheen can also be used on exterior wood and claims to 'colour, protect and weatherproof'. Mark varnished the inside of the back gate and he reports that he had to use three coats to be confident of it being weatherproof. It hasn't dried with as much of a shine on the older and rougher wood of the gate but for exterior woodwork it's more a case of how well it's going to do it's job (ie: stop the weather doing nasty things to your wood) than the colour it turns out.
I got my tins of Woodsheen from Homebase but as they're Dulux I'd imagine any of the DIY warehouses will stock it, also try a Dulux Centre if you've got one nearby for heavily discounted Dulux products. This tiny £3.49 tin of Woodsheen has cost us a fortune, I loved the colour of the first door so much we've ended up buying four more pine doors and a 2.5 litre tin of Woodsheen so we can get all the doors in the house the same colour.
