I'm torn between staining my desk dark or leaving it raw wood after that birch butcher block I snagged last month.

My buddy says a dark stain hides scratches but my girlfriend loves the natural look and I kinda agree with both after that spill incident with my coffee mug 3 days ago. Anyone dealt with this choice before and regretted picking one side?

2 comments

2 Comments

river_hall4413d ago

Oh man, I was literally in this exact spot last year with my kitchen island! I went with the dark stain thinking it would hide all my clumsiness, but then I realized every single dust speck and crumb showed up like neon signs on that dark surface. My girlfriend kept saying "I told you so" every time I wiped it down twice a day. The raw wood was so much more forgiving with daily wear and actually hid my coffee rings better once I added a good matte polyurethane.

jamienguyen12d ago

Had a buddy do the exact same thing with his butcher block counter last summer @river_hall44. He went with a dark walnut stain and within a week was complaining about how every single speck caught the light and drove him crazy. Ended up sanding it all down and going with a lighter natural oil finish instead, said it was the best decision he made all year.