Matching an Ethan Allen color

[Len Rosenberg]

I have several Ethan Allen pieces in my house, with the finish they call "Cotton". I've built a table, and plan to build a few more pieces, and would like to match the Ethan Allen "Cotton" finish.

I've gone through the Benjamin Moore sample chips and also the Sherwin Williams and none of them match.

Is it possible to match this finish? It may be glaze over paint.

Thanks,

Len

[Scott Holmes]

Could you post a picture of the finish you are attempting to achieve?

It can be matched... most likely not out of a single can of pigmented stain. Dyes, toners, and/or glaze may be required. Ethan Allen doesn't use OTC stain for their furniture.

[John TenEyck]

I looked it up on EA's website. It's hard to tell exactly how they did it from those photos but I'd agree with Scott, it's highly likely it was a multi step process. Of course it can be matched very closely, but a lot will depend upon how much effort you are willing to put into it. I've spent countless hours to match an existing finish and many dozens of specimens. It gets really tedious sometimes but I don't know of any other way but to start somewhere, make samples start to finish, and adjust based on how they compare to the original.

John

[Len Rosenberg]

Thanks Scott and John for the replies. I'm sure you are correct. Being somewhat inexperienced in the terminology of finishes, could you clarify the term "pigmented stain"? Is that different from pigmented laquer or acrylic?

Thanks,

Len

[John TenEyck]

I think when Scott said "pigmented stain" he meant typical oil based stain like Minwax, Zar, etc.

John

[Prashun Patel]

"Cotton" appears to be a faux antiqued, painted finish.

It looks to me to be a multi-layer paint technique, possibly with a final glaze.

If you contact EA, they may share the info with you. You may have to go through several layers of inquiry, but my neighbor did it successfully for a stain.

[Len Rosenberg]

Thanks Prashun. I called and they are looking into it and will call me back with info. Surprising!

[Howard Acheson]

>>>> If you contact EA, they may share the info with you. You may have to go through several layers of inquiry, but my neighbor did it successfully for a stain.

Good suggestion. When I had my shop EA supplied me with a can of stain to match a table I was refinishing.

[Jeff Monson]

I matched a kitchen cabinet job a couple years ago to the hutch, table and chairs that were already in the house. Your finish looks very close, I worked with Sherwin Williams to match the finish. As John stated it was tedious but the results were great. My schedule to my memory was 2 coats bright white latex (sprayed), followed by 1 coat Kem aqua sealer, I used a deep brown glaze and that toned the white to match, finished it off with 2 more coats of Kem aqua. I needed some areas (mostly edges) to be darker so I did lightly sand those areas before I glazed them. Your finish does not appear to need that.

[Wade Lippman]

This might not be terribly helpful, but a few years ago I had to match an Ethan Allen cherry finish. They used tinted lacquer, but I couldn't do that.
Color was easy to match, but getting the grain to look the same was a bear.
After a bit of experimentation I got a perfect match with a dye (which hid the grain) and a stain (that accented the grain).
5 years later it was still perfect.

Of course, you aren't matching cherry, so my method might be irrelevant.

[Len Rosenberg]

Thanks to all for the great suggestions. Turns out ML Campbell will color match any sample for their Aqualente top coat. However there are some issues about purchasing that I will raise in a new thread.