2008_01_22 Pella Front Door before it is stained

I needed to show Kathy the color of the unfinished door so I took this picture to show her. It's a Pella fiberglass door that has a wood-grain pattern.

We have yet to decide what to do with the door as far as whether to paint it (or stain it) to match the evergreen color of the Pella windows and the metal roof or to stain it some color like golden oak or walnut, etc to look like wood.

We have been told that you can stain it like it was wood as long as you know how to do it to retain the wood grain appearance. Scott (the builder) says that to get a good result staining it you have to put the stain on and use a putty knife or something and drag it over the surface. He says that doing it that way allows it to look like it would if it were actually wood. He says that if it were to be stained using a cloth or brush it would not turn out well. We'll have to decide whether to paint it or stain it, but if we stain it I'll make sure that Scott supervises that part of the job! :-)