My wife and I just purchased a unfinished Hardwood Maple bed from a local fella that creates only craftsman style furniture. This bed is for our grand daughter who stays with us a few days a week. We now need to put a finish on it and I'm not sure which way I should go. I'm a Design Engineer by trade and do not have a ton of time to work on this. My specialty is custom cam follower bearings which has nothing to do with wood so I'm new to this. What I would like to know is what can I use to seal this and maintain the natural wood finish without having to spend weeks on it. I love the look of tung oil rubbed wood but I know it takes alot of time and patients to get it right. My wife wanted to whitewash the bed but I talked her out of it. I guess if the natural look doesn't make her happy then I can always paint it which would break my heart.
The furniture was crafted in Grand Rapids Michigan by a company called Custom Cottage the web site is a .org site if you want to see the work they do. It may give you more insight on the type of maple this bed is. I do know the wood is grown, cut and kiln in Michigan.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Here are some photo's of the unfinished bed, don't mind the mess my wife has the room in shambles reorganizing and redecorating.
Here is a link to some photo's of the bed.
Click Here!