Q: I saw a table online that said it has a java finish. What does that mean?
A: It means some marketing whiz kid has decided that the word java sounds better than brown, or at least will sell more easily.
The stain and furniture people are at last catching up with the paint naming folks, who long ago started slipping in common nouns as paint colors. It started innocently enough; after all, espresso is a pretty predictable. It’s dark brown both in the cup and in the paint can. Ditto for sandstone, robin’s egg, claret and so on. But when colors start showing up with names like sprinkle, dress rehearsal, perfection and virtue, (all actual paint colors currently for sale) we’re clearly on our own.
Michael Dresdner
straight talk about wood finishing