Homeowner Question? Advice on Stain and Color

[OnAJourney]

Hello everyone. I have been reading thoroughly to collect information and tips for my DIY deck refinishing project (especially after getting some well-meaning but not-so-great advice from the neighbors), and am a bit stuck trying to select a stain and color.

The details...

I inherited the deck and am not certain what was previously done, but am guessing the deck is 11 years old and I think it is Pressure Treated Pine. The brown finish was not looking poor especially in those sections farthest from the house and seeing the most daily sun. My neighbor told me sanding alone would take it off. After sanding, I put down some Behr stain, which I did not like at all due to the color as it was unexpectedly quite red. Knowing I could not live with it, and then learning I had skipped several preparation steps, I stripped off the Behr (a job which lived up to its name). I then cleaned and brightened the deck and rails and took a pledge to avoid Behr in the future. And that's where I stand now.

A major consideration for stain is ease of application, which drew me toward TimberOil. I am a very basic DIY guy. And my initial hope for color was to be less brown and more warm and golden, so imagine my delight to find a TimberOil color named Warm Honey Gold. It sounded perfect...until I read that Warm Honey Gold can appear orange on light colored wood. That makes me a bit nervous.

It has been a lot of work so far, but I am committed to finishing the project properly. Could I ask for some advice on color?

And now that I have a stripped, cleaned and brightened deck, the weather includes a chance of rain every couple days. How urgently do I need to get stain down?

What else should I be thinking about?


I attached some photos: From L to R: (1) what I started with; (2) what I have today; (3) and (4) two photos I found here of decks I really enjoy, to give an idea of what direction I would like to head. (In my attempt to give credit where credit is due, I know one of the photos came from the website of someone here, but I can't recall who. My apologies.)

Thank you, everyone!

[gt2003]

The last picture, #4, was done by Rick Petry. It says its a mix of brown sugar and western cedar so it's got to be a woodrich product but I'm not sure which one.....Rick?

If you hold your cursor over the picture it will show you who posted and what they titled the post.

Good luck in finding something you like. The deck looks great so far!