When refinishing furniture you have two main options, staining or painting. I found that this can be quite a contentious topic, with some lamenting how paint ruins furniture while others argue wood is heavy and outdated. Lets take a look at the reasons why you might choose one over the other when refinishing your furniture.
Staining Furniture
The Pros:
Solid wood furniture is really hard to come by these days. In my opinion, when you stain furniture, you are showing off the exquisite nature of the wood grain and the craftsmanship of the carpenter. Overall, I think it gives your furniture a more expensive look because it is so much harder to manufacture.
Stains are not limited to color of the natural wood. You can always choose a stain that goes darker, or opt for a white wash finish to lighten the wood (it’s important to note that the thicker your white-wash is, the more you err on the side of painted rather than stained wood).
The Cons:
If you have any sort of damage to your wood furniture, a stain will not cover it up. It is simple to fill an area to repair but the color and texture is impossible to duplicate (at least not easily). Depending on the condition of your furniture, a simple sand and re-stain may not bring it back to life.
Additionally, depending on the topcoat used to seal your wood, you may not get a lasting color. Polyurethane is an excellent protectant of your wood but can yellow over time. It may need to be stripped and recoated to remove the yellowing – this poses a very annoying maintenance issue. If you choose not to have a polyurethane and instead use an oil-base topcoat like Danish oil, you run the risk of damaging your wood from outside elements, such as spills and food stains.
Painting Furniture
The Pros:
If you have a piece of furniture that you love but it has unsightly blemishes, chips, or dents, painting might be the right option for you. Filling in damages with Bondo or wood filler is a simple enough task but does not take stain well. Painting over these repairs is seamless and makes these areas virtually disappear.
The fact that paint can come in literally any color makes the possibilities endless! You can do so much in terms of design, and you are not limited to a single color. You can drastically change the style of the furniture with paint from shabby chic to farmhouse to mid-century modern. Wood furniture tends to feel heavy and darkens a room, painted furniture can lighten up your space and make it feel more open and airy.
The Cons:
Maintenance with painted furniture can be annoying. There are ways to make your painted surface more durable and long lasting but it is more prone to chipping and wear and tear over time.
Painted furniture also tends to look cheaper than it’s natural wood counterpart – this isn’t always the case but on first glance, if I see painted furniture I immediately think MDF or composite board.
Finally, because there are SO many possibilities with paint, I do see some painted furniture that has gone a little overboard. Perhaps this is my personal preference in style, but pieces that incorporate too many colors, designs, and textures look too busy and tacky.
Conclusion: I’ll leave that up to you! I think there’s a place for both stained and painted furniture and a lot of it up to personal preference. Let’s also not forget that stain and painted furniture is not mutually exclusive, there’s no reason you can’t mix and match! At the end of the day the most important thing is to go into your project with ample information and a solid plan.
Rachel Williams
Artist | Designer | Educator
Making mistakes and fixing them, so you don’t have to