Expert: Eileen Cronk - 8/27/2007

Question
I was wondering your opinion on painting my bedroom set.  It is a light (Maple possibly) wood.  I am wanting to do a major makeover of our room, and I was thinking of decorating the bed with brown and orange bedding.  Do you think it would be better to stain the wood darker or paint it a dark brown.  I also have an old dresser that doesn't quite match, but I feel it would fit in better if it was painted to match.  I'm nervous about painting furniture brown; I don't want it to look tacky.  Any thoughts?

Answer
Hi Krystal
Nice to hear from you.
If the furniture is actually maple, you have little hope of making it darker with stain.
Maple just does not accept stain as other woods do.
While I understand your being reluctant to use brown paint,
a look at the decorating magazines today shows mostly dark brown furniture. And it looks great.
I feel the color choice is key here.
Really study the different shades of brown.
And browse the magazines. Don't even need to buy them, I browse in the grocery line LOL...well isn't that why they put the magazines in that location ? LOL
Good Luck and great question.
Regards
Eileen