Paint or Stain?

[ceilingsofperth]

I've just built a queen size bed out of pine. All the furniture in my house is black & my bed sheets are black & white so I want this bed to be black also. I was just going to spray it black as I've done this before to pine & you can get it to look nice if done correctly. I'd really like to see the grain though & so now I'm wondering can you buy a black stain & if so would it give me a nice matt finish with grain visible or should I stick to my original plan?

[dr4g0nfly]

The best stain I know that still allows grain to show through is Spirit Stain.

We have Chestnut Finishes (http://www.chestnutproducts.co.uk/results.php?cat=Stains) over here but you must have something similar.

[vk4]

Check out Feast Watson and Wattyl stains at BUNNINGS , then you can coat with a satin varnish use water base if you can as it does not discolour with age, .

Jeff

[ceilingsofperth]

Got Feast Watson Satin Black Varnish.

I got a quality brush & brushed the 1st coat on (maybe not best idea), wasn't happy with the finish so I thought I'd spray the 2nd coat but when I got spray gun out I saw that the person I'd lent it to last (who spray paints as part of his job) had left it in appalling condition :~ so I brushed the 2nd coat too. I wish I'd sprayed both coats really as I didn't get the professional finish I wanted but unless you look closely you can't see the imperfections (brush marks & the odd subtle run). It was hard to get an even coat without applying a thicker coat than intended. I might sand it back & spray it 1 day.

I didn't notice until I saw this pic that I had dust on my camera lens so it looks like grubby marks on the varnish but it's not.
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn185/Beardedshark/Woodworkprojects037.jpg