Queen Anne is usually a walnut, cherry, or mahogany ... all of them are dark woods. Why do you need to lighten it? There is no rule that says all the wood in a house has to match.

What you saw them using was wood bleach ... and you DO have to sand, then re-varnish the piece.

Thanks for responding. The problem is the furniture would have to be combined with other pieces in the same room that are light oak. Hubby hates dark wood and if the furniture can't be changed to a lighter tone he would prefer that I don't keep it. I have to admit that I am not much of a fan of dark woods either. I would just like to keep it for the memories.

If, both you and your husband don't like darkwood I would say go ahead and paint it. Queen Anne furniture style looks good light or dark in my opinion.

It's a massive mess to sand and bleach this stuff. you are asking for a big headache. And these woods usually 'bleed' so even if you lighten it, it won'te be more than a shade or two, and it's going to gradually turn again. Why don't you slip cover the dining chairs and use a corresponding cloth over the table. Then paint foam board or some other firm board and line the back wall of the china cabinet in the same wall color as you have or the same fabric you use on the table and chairs. That might give you the 'break' you want from all the dark. If not, then you can paint it as suggested above...
as for your liv. room chairs, go ahead and try them in the bedroom and if you don't like them, you can either paint them or take them back out and into the attic until you decide what to do.

I suspect you are not going to be happy with the dark wood in more than a couple of accent pieces over the long haul. And if you paint them, they are not really going to be the pieces you remember. I suspect it's the memories rather than the furniture you can't do away with right now...and that's normal. give it some time. you will find yourself picking out the pieces you really would like to keep and passing the rest on to others who really enjoy it.

if they just wiped something on over the existing finish, it was a technique called 'liming' which is basically varnish or poly finish with white pigment in it (this can be customed colorel, by the way. the poly is 'polyshades' by minwax)

if they're 40's vintage- you can do that, or honestly? if you're happy with the fabric? I have had good results with masking the upholstery off, and using Krylon spray paint.

slipcovering them is another option.

if they're real, solid mahogany or walnut or cherry frames (if you turn the chairs over, you should get a sight of the unfinished wood)- get them done professionally, or let them go.

the chinacabinet will be something of a pest, especially if there's glass involved- but the fabric backing will indeed lighten the thing up a good deal.