Colouring rustic furniture and floors in village shades

Because, unfortunately, the idea that rustic furniture means traditional wooden roundels, roots or carvings, assembled and finished according to the inspiration of the moment, we had an articlein which I tried to present a kind of regulation for those who make such furniture. Rustic furniture has its roots in the authentic village, not in the one "enriched" with wall sculptures seen on the facades of palaces in Italy or France. Peasant furniture was not glossy, nor did it have a 1 cm thick layer of varnish. And when the natural colour was not preserved, the inspiration for staining the wood was still found in the life, customs and materials of the village.

Specific village colours

You notice I didn't say the Romanian peasant. Because rustic furniture is about a universal peasant and if you have the patience to see what rustic furniture looks like in other countries you will discover many common elements. I made such an attempt when I talked about painted furniture. Each country has its own specific elements, but they all chose to embellish their furniture by painting the flowers, animals and birds they encountered in everyday life.

The colours that are commonly found in the countryside are best suited to rustic furniture. Lately in great demand are colours that reproduce wood ageing due to the action of the sun. It's the color we used to see on fence boards. Fences in villages may have been protected with linseed oil, but certainly no one bothered to protect them from UV radiation. The fence was made to enclose a space or separate properties and the wood was chosen, based on experience, to resist rot and insect attack. This meant resin-containing wood (molid, larch) or tannin (acacia, oak, chestnut) So that fence changed its colour over time, taking on a specific blue-grey hue.

The colours that we find in the villages and that are now sought after for staining wood are among the most diverse. The colours of ash or clay, wheat, tobacco or lavender, fresh must or wine lees, flax or hemp, burnt wood are all representative of the rural world and are well suited to rustic furniture.

Wood staining

The colouring of the wood in shades specific to the world of the village gives a more authentic look to rustic furniture or floors. Sometimes the wood takes on this colour because of natural causes (natural ageing of the wood), sometimes because natural staining solutions are used. Solutions made from onion leaves, walnut leaves, wine yeast, red grape must, beetroot were used not only to colour wool or cotton threads, but also to colour wood.

Many of the colours were also used to paint wood with floral or animal motifs, or simply with elements that we also find in traditional carving. For protection they were used, eventually, wax and linseed oil.

All these colours are now reproduced by manufacturers of wood staining and finishing materials, and staining becomes much easier. However, for an authentic antique effect you may need more than a simple stain.

Ways to achieve credible effects

Very important in rustic furniture is the design and finish. Unlike other types of furniture, rustic furniture is tougher, rougher, and gives the impression that a lot of time has not been spent on the design side, but rather on the practical side. The table, the chairs, the bed are built primarily to be useful. Hence the less processed or finished look.

In rustic furniture, the surface texture comes from rough machining. There are marks from cutting with a chisel or saw that remain because, if the furniture serves its intended purpose, the fact that the sides are not perfectly straight or the surface is not very well sanded is no longer important.

On these imperfectly processed surfaces, colour is not evenly absorbed and scratches are highlighted. If this is a defect in classic furniture, it is a quality in rustic furniture or flooring.

The rough workmanship, the dusty look of the colours, the patinas that age, the wax that protects and colours, all lead to the rustic effect. But all this look can be totally destroyed if thick gloss varnish is applied for protection. It's the sure way to turn everything into a failure.

The lighting only spoils the look of the rustic furniture. It's better to skip the varnish altogether than to apply a thick coat of gloss varnish. Not only will you ruin the rustic effect, but you'll turn the furniture into kitsch.

In conclusion

The look of old rustic furniture or flooring can be achieved with the help of berries reproducing rural colours. But that's not enough. For an authentic look you need simple patterns with a focus on the useful, a basic woodworking and protecting it with oil or wax. If protection with such materials cannot be done because of low resistance to certain factors (scratching, high temperatures, staining) then the varnish used should be as matt as possible and applied as thinly as possible.

Wood staining in such cases does not have to be uniform, like plastic. The wood stain, which absorbs differently into the wood, should bring out its grain and even some imperfections (scratches, dents, defects resulting from the use of faulty tools).

The village world is beautiful precisely because of its sometimes rough simplicity, its inclination towards utility and less towards finesse, its close connection with nature. We like it when it is authentic and has not been changed by convenience, rules or parvenu. And if we want our furniture to resemble this world we must stick with its authentic or highly reproduced materials and colours.