I moved into our current home two years ago and was able to speak briefly with the original owner/builder. The interior made extensive use of knotty alder...all cabinets, doors, door and window casing, base boards, etc. The owner told me the finish on the alder was in a gallon can in the garage. The only gallon can was the water based Varathane. I am now building a media alcove cabinet and want to match the finish on the rest of the alder. When I applied the Varathane I get a distinctly reddish tone whereas the existing wood has an almost creamy yellow tone. I then noticed a book case I had built about a year ago and finished with wipe on poly (which also turned out to be a reddish tone) had shifted to the creamy white.

I removed a piece of base board and compared the unfinished back to my "new construction" alder and they are identical. I can understand a color shift on wood that is in direct sunlight a lot but the creamy yellow tone is present throughout the house. The alder doors appear to have a sprayed lacquer finish which is practically identical to the other alder wood work.

In addition to the water based Varathane, I've so far tried Deft Brushing Lacquer, regular Varathane poly, Minwax Wood Finish Natural and Minwax prestain...all seem to bring out the red in the alder.

Is this just an aging of the finish or maybe the alder exposure to light? I know cherry will darken over time so perhaps this is something similar? The media alcove cabinet is center stage in the great room and I would hate to have to wait two years for it to mellow out to match. Any and all thoughts and tips are greatly appreciated.