I needed a really small amount of stain in a shade of… every color. Not wanting to shell out money for samples I figured I should try my hand at making my own. After reading many articles and watching lots of videos I came to the conclusion that I could do this! I came up with the perfect shade of a modern + natural stain to use on our DIY shoe cubby. I’ll call this color the dirty shoe 😂.

WHAT YOU NEED:

4 heaping tablespoons of instant coffee
2 cups water
Optional black and/or white acrylic paint
Paint brush

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

(1) Mix 4 tablespoons instant coffee with 2 cups hot water. Add 1 dallop of black paint to darken the stain or 2 dallops of white paint to lighten it once the water has cooled.

(2) Stir with your paintbrush and apply your stain in one direction. Each time you dip your brush give the stain a stir.

(3) You can mix and match paint + coffee quantity to create any custom stain. Let me know if you make it and what you try it on.

Once our shoe cubby is completely built I’ll seal it all with the clear + matte polyurethane I used on our family room wall for way wiping.