My previous making-things experience had mostly been for utilitarian stuff, but recently I've been trying my hand at making indoors furniture. The main problem I've come across is, I suspect, fairly common - finding the intersection between things I like and things my girlfriend also likes!
For the most part, in terms of style and overall design we actually have fairly similar tastes, so that part isn't an issue. My biggest requirement past that is that furniture is made of real wood where practical, and hard hardwood by preference, because I have too many poor memories of cheap MDF bookshelves that end up shaped more like boomerangs than rulers and pine furniture that looks like the surface of the moon after everyday use; her preference is for a glossy white finish, and she was disappointed with my first attempt because you could still see the woodgrain texture in the paint.
So on one hand, the species of wood doesn't matter a great deal, because it's going to be painted over. So maybe the answer is just to use beech or some other really tight-grained, unfigured wood that already finishes to a smooth surface. On the other hand, I'm also 90% of the way through making a corner table for the hall out of oak and ash, both of which have similar very-obvious grain, and she only just bothered to mention this now!
I've had to take a long break from this table already, mostly because of work, and now I'm eager to get back to it... so does anyone have any good solution to getting a clean, flat glossy finish on a wood which has an obvious visible open grain? Is this what sanding sealer is for? Are there any drawbacks to filling in the grain with something before painting - would it affect the adhesion of the paint? I have enough spare and offcut ash to test a couple of approaches if necessary.
In the long run it's not especially important for this particular bit of furniture, 'cause it's going in a room with no other furniture in it, so it doesn't have to fit in with anything and an oiled finish would be acceptable. I'd just like to find out how to get the finish she wants before starting on anything else, in case it's just not feasible with certain species of wood or something!
For the most part, in terms of style and overall design we actually have fairly similar tastes, so that part isn't an issue. My biggest requirement past that is that furniture is made of real wood where practical, and hard hardwood by preference, because I have too many poor memories of cheap MDF bookshelves that end up shaped more like boomerangs than rulers and pine furniture that looks like the surface of the moon after everyday use; her preference is for a glossy white finish, and she was disappointed with my first attempt because you could still see the woodgrain texture in the paint.
So on one hand, the species of wood doesn't matter a great deal, because it's going to be painted over. So maybe the answer is just to use beech or some other really tight-grained, unfigured wood that already finishes to a smooth surface. On the other hand, I'm also 90% of the way through making a corner table for the hall out of oak and ash, both of which have similar very-obvious grain, and she only just bothered to mention this now!
I've had to take a long break from this table already, mostly because of work, and now I'm eager to get back to it... so does anyone have any good solution to getting a clean, flat glossy finish on a wood which has an obvious visible open grain? Is this what sanding sealer is for? Are there any drawbacks to filling in the grain with something before painting - would it affect the adhesion of the paint? I have enough spare and offcut ash to test a couple of approaches if necessary.
In the long run it's not especially important for this particular bit of furniture, 'cause it's going in a room with no other furniture in it, so it doesn't have to fit in with anything and an oiled finish would be acceptable. I'd just like to find out how to get the finish she wants before starting on anything else, in case it's just not feasible with certain species of wood or something!
