Q. My daughter just bought a beautiful home in St. Augustine and is trying to find out if there is some way to darken a very ugly yellow ochre marble fireplace surround and slab on floor in front of fireplace(about 2 Ft. by 6 Ft.) --short of tearing out the whole thing. It was built in 2005 -in perfect shape....just the awful color...since I noticed these natural stone seem to stain--could she try to put a very dark brown stain over it to see if it would look any better. The surrounding wood floor is med. brown.

 

A. Staining any stone is risky even for a pro since it may not take the stain evenly. But if you want to try using a Minwax wood stain that might work. Just be cautioned that you might not like the results and removing the stain is going to be nearly impossible.