Stain or Paint Wood?

I'm in the market for a new desk for my pc. Since it's going to be in our living room, it has to match our other furniture, which is basically a cream and espresso two toned theme. I found a desk on CL yesterday that I really like except for one thing; it's pine, so it's got that light brown look to it. In order to match the rest of my furniture, would it be better to stain it or paint it the espresso color?

 

i think paint it, jst my .o2

 

yeap

 

Stain it. Just do it right.

 

Pine is by far one of the hardest woods to stain and get it to look right. Most of the time it will turn out really splotchy (dark in some spots and light in others). I do a lot of woodworking and unless you are willing to go through a multiple stage process with dyes and stains, I would probably paint it. Feel free to PM me if you do decide you want to go the stain route and I can give you the name of some good products.

 

Thanks for the advice. I no nothing of wood working and def. don't know how to stain. I wasn't sure how hard it would be or anything and I'm not sure how much time I want to spend on it. If I decide to get it, I might just make it a little project. We'll see.

 

I guess it depends on how even you want the stain to be. Even with a wood conditioner, pine is difficult to get even penetration.

 

pine is easy to stain I say stain it

 

Very true... Pine is hard to stain. In that case, paint away!

 

2 great books you may want to look at. Don't take my word for it, listen to what the guys who make a living from it say.

 

I'd stain it like a couple people have already said...