Painted Sideboards

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Painted sideboards in the colour of your choosing

Choosing a colour for your painted sideboard

A painted sideboard asks one question a natural wood piece never does: what colour should it be? Each of our designs comes in a standard colour, and you can choose any other shade from our paint collection instead, from soft whites, warm creams and greys to sage and deeper greens, navy and paler blues, browns, pinks and yellows.

Start with how you want the room to feel, not with the colour card. A pale cream or soft grey lets a sideboard settle quietly into a room, while a deep green or navy makes it the first thing the eye finds. Then look at the light. A north-facing room has a cool, steady light that keeps a colour close to its true shade, while a south-facing room warms everything it touches and can push some shades towards brown. So order a sample pot, and look at it in a dark corner and opposite a window, by day and again under lamps in the evening.

Then think about what will sit around it. If the sideboard shares a room with painted kitchen cabinetry, the same colour makes it read as part of the kitchen, while a lighter or deeper shade lets it stand as a piece of furniture in its own right. Many of our furniture colours also come as wall paint, so you could paint the wall behind in the same colour, which softens the edges of a smaller room and helps it feel more spacious. Once you know the colour, our small sideboards and large sideboards will help you find the right size.

Choosing the finish of your painted sideboard

Standard colour or your own: every design comes in a standard colour at its listed price. Choose any other shade from our paint collection, and it is painted for you to order.
Tulipwood: we use tulipwood for painted furniture because its fine, even grain gives a smooth surface that holds paint well. Our Chawton designs are tulipwood outside and oak within.
Finished shade by shade: on Chawton, the number of coats depends on the colour, and each shade is painted by hand or sprayed, whichever gives it the best finish.
Eggshell paint: the Suffolk and Sunbury are finished in eggshell, which wipes clean and resists scuffs better than a matt emulsion. Our paints are water-based and very low in VOCs.
Painted with an oak top: the Chichester and Suffolk sideboards pair a painted body with a solid oak top, so the surface you use every day shows the timber.
Painted with an oak interior: the Chawton sideboards and cabinets have a seamless painted top and oak shelves inside, so the colour you chose meets natural wood each time you open the doors.
Pieces to match: the Chichester Wide Chest of Drawers and the Chichester 4ft Workstation Base take the same choice of paint, so a painted oak sideboard and the pieces around it can be ordered in one colour.

Painted sideboards FAQ's

Yes, on our Chichester and Suffolk sideboards. Both let you choose an inside colour separately from the outside, so the cupboards can open onto a contrast: a soft neutral outside and a deep shade within, or the reverse. It is a way to enjoy a bold colour without committing a whole piece to it, and the Chichester Wide Chest of Drawers offers the same choice. On the Chawton designs, the inside is always left as unpainted oak, whichever colour you choose for the outside, so the contrast between paint and timber is built in. The Sunbury takes a single colour. A separate inside colour is painted to order along with the rest of the piece, and the extra paint service shows in the price.

Yes, and it is worth doing, because a colour on a screen rarely looks the same in your own room. Every painted sideboard page links to sample pots, so you can paint a piece of card and move it around the room for a few days, checking it morning and evening. Our paint booklet sets out the whole collection arranged by colour, which helps when you are choosing a sideboard to sit with walls, a kitchen or fabrics you already have. Many designs are on display in our stores too, though the one you see may be in a different size or colour from the one you have in mind, so it is worth calling ahead before you visit.

Yes. A painted sideboard is as much at home in a kitchen or dining room as in a sitting room or bedroom, and the room is often what decides the colour. A livelier shade suits a kitchen or dining room where people gather to cook and eat, while a calmer one sits better in a bedroom or snug where you want to wind down. Where a sideboard sees daily use, look at the top. On the Chichester and Suffolk designs, it is solid oak, so plates, glasses and serving dishes land on timber rather than paint. Painted surfaces need little more than a dry cloth for dust and a damp one for marks. Avoid standard furniture cleaners and polishes, which can damage the finish.

Yes. One of the advantages of painted wooden furniture is that it can be refreshed when the room around it changes, and a fresh coat also hides the scuffs a well-used sideboard picks up over the years, so the piece goes on for longer rather than being replaced. For furniture, choose an eggshell rather than an emulsion, because it is tougher, easier to wipe clean and less likely to scuff. Our paints come in an eggshell finish as well as in sample pots, so you can try a new colour on card before you commit, then repaint from the same collection you chose from the first time. If you are unsure how to prepare the surface, ask in one of our stores before you start.