Staining or painting wood?
 

What is involved with making the front door and the light colored stair banister look like the dark colored banister? Is this difficult to do?

Thanks!

I think you have to sand it down to wood and start over.

It would be far easyer to just change the door to a lighter color.
All that carpet would have to come out and all that wood would have to be sanded down to bare wood so the stain would have a place to soak into.
Even if you painted it all the sealer would have to come off or the paint will not stick.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. When you say it would be easier to change the door to a lighter color. what way would this be done?

You can go from light to dark. Try a staining coat and another and another until close possible match the clear coat, try first a small out of viw area to test.

For a beginner like me, how difficult would it be to sand down the door or the banister with the help of someone else and to stain it? Is this a big job?

Thanks.

It might not be too difficult if you have the right equipment and time. Just make sure you're wearing a ventilation mask--the dust from varnish can be pretty nasty.

What is the "right equipment ?" What would I need?

Thanks.

My SO and I did this on a smaller scale and it was a lot of work! We sanded it down by hand with a fine grain and man, I had no idea how much work and elbow grease it would take.

Luckily, everything went well and we were your DIY amateurs. :) We had to put on two stains and another one wouldn't have hurt although I was afraid it was going to turn gummy.

Anyhow, hope this helped a little bit. I just followed my SOs lead and worked really hard.

Go ahead and sand it down or you'll just be doing it with ANOTHER layer on, good luck