Its beautiful how it is, good find!

its a pretty complicated piece of furniture if you dont have a lot of experience doing what you want to do. the downside is pretty bad. i'd go with your red chair idea.

or sell this one again... and say 'in much better condition than you'd think". : )

Stickley? No! I agree the downside risk is too high. If you really don’t like the color you can refinish with a stain that has green in it.

Could you stain it a different color instead of painting? About as much work but with nice all wood furniture, I’m partial to leaving it unpainted.

I’d also swap out the brass hardware. Stained dark with nice new hardware and I think it should be a really nice piece.

Sell it for a profit and buy something else to paint :)

Is it marked Stickley? Is the hardware original? If so, sell it and buy a reproduction piece to paint, restain, or swap out hardware.

I inherited a desk and the original stain was a horrible yellow brown color, it was ugly. I was going to get rid of it. Then I opened the drawer, solid cherry and then really looked past the stain. It had beautiful lines and could see the beauty of the wood inspire of the color stain. Stripped it and stained a more fitting deep brown stain. Its beauty now shines through.

You can get stains in all sorts of color if you don't want "brown". Blues, reds, greens,paint that beauty. If you have a Wood Workers store check out the shade and colors available.

https://woodworker.com/drop-c-black-japan-color-mssu-848-271.asp

No. There is a market for Stickly furniture, and your desk would raise some interest. It is a quality reproducion of 1800’s Chippendale

I would guess you could possibly triple your money if you sold it. But, then, what would you buy of the same quality for $900.00.

Is your decor style compatible? If so, keep and do not paint it.

If that is an actual Stickley, please don't paint it. Sell it to someone who will love it as it is and buy another piece to paint.

It is a genuine Stickley, and the only thing I don’t like about it is the color. It’s the perfect work desk for me and fits nicely in the room. I plan on using the heck out of it for the next fifteen years or so. It’s my understanding that the Cherry Valley Stickley furniture is not as sought after as the Gustav Stickley furniture, and I don’t want to sell it anyway.

I vote to keep it and stain it a different color vs. painting it. You might also consider changing the hardware to contemporize it a bit. No one appreciates Stickley anymore. Selling is a great idea in theory, hard in reality. Good luck and update with pictures!

Are you familiar with the late, great Dorothy Draper? If not, look her up. She was a very famous decorator who was known for, among other things, painting antique furniture with zero guilt. If you can get a copy of her book Decorating Is Fun!, do so; she’ll give you the courage to paint that!

Good luck...and have FUN!

Sammy you had me at zero guilt!!

sure. paint it.
ten years from now, you will probably post some question about how to return it to the original ( beautiful) color.
Honestly, you own it. do as you wish...
I would leave it as is , or sell it, if it were mine..

L&G Stickley (while not Gustav) is high quality furniture. That desk will cost you a few thousand new. To paint it would destroy it. Sell it for a thousand plus and buy something that would not be a crime to paint.

Following...

Aside from the crime of painting a beautiful piece like that, I find that red/black treatment you are considering not that attractive.

I found a chair with some detailing that I think will fulfill my desire for red with black glaze. I am going to have someone restain the desk a much darker color, which I think will be a good compromise.

I am a huge furniture painter but I think I would leave as is. I have painted things that others said don’t but I felt strongly about. If you need to ask wait six months and if you want to paint then go ahead!

No pro here but imo no guilt there at all, it is not an antique. To me looks maybe 80’s But I personally wouldn’t choose red, again to me it would appear to come from the 80’s same era.

If you look at online sites such as Perigold and even Wayfair for examples you will find new painted wood furniture and many sell for a lot more than 1000. Maybe you could get some ideas from looking at some better made wood painted chests.

I agree about the hardware would make a big difference again imo. If you posted the room it was going in, it would give people a better idea of color and style that would go in your room.

If you re-stain it you'll destroy a good quality piece of furniture and have to pay to have it done. The wood is cherry and it should be allowed to show it's beauty. So sell the desk to someone who likes it as is and then spend the money on something you like. You'll probably end up a few dollars better off.

Is this identical to your piece? Listed here for $1,895!

https://www.chairish.com/product/1375376/henkel-harris-model-6001-cherry-slant-front-desk

That's not the same as the 1960 Leopold Stickley....that one could go for close to $1000 on a good day.

I really appreciate all the comments. I did do some checking and honestly don’t see how my desk is going to bring $1,000. Regardless, it is exactly the right piece for my home office, and totally suits my work habits and storage needs, so has value for me in that respect. I make plenty of money with my work, and have no desire to go through all the effort of selling this piece for maybe - maybe not- a few hundred bucks profit. I will look into staining it, since the orange is a no go. If anyone honestly thinks this piece is worth $1,000, I’ll let it go for $600.

Look on the auction sites. Any decent refinisher should not be keen to stain cherry as it's tricky and I would hope that they would not want to destroy the finish on your nice old cherry desk that has had time to mellow. They'd probably agree with the 52 voters who say keep it as is, but it's your desk to do what you want with.

forget about staining that . you will have to strip off all the original finish, fine sand and the stain. I do a lot of wood finishing and even I wouldn't tackle that thing. (The outside, yes, but the inside? no way. I'd paint the inside)

Besides, stain it what? It's cherry. cherry has a natural red tone to it. staining it darker would be a waste.

Change out the hardware. It will give it an updated look.

And really, who cares if you paint it or not? It's not like it's the last one on the entire earth. It's wood. If you don't like the way it looks, sell it to someone who wants it, OR paint it the way you want it to look. It's your house and your desk! The furniture police won't be knocking at door if you do.

Jeff, make me an offer. It’s all yours.

I like Stickley, but not the Chippendale reproductions. It's the cherry wood that I like most about your desk.

Perhaps get a quote from a furniture refinisher to strip the finish and stain it darker. It'll look trashy painted (above are good examples), but cherry can be stained quite red and still look decent. You'll probably spend more than you planned, but it might end up just what you want.

Even if you do paint it, remember that the glaze won't work really well on something that is so flat. You need nooks and curves to get that dirty furniture look. :)

Fresh paint and new cabinet hardware. Good luck!

Get the red chair! You don't want to paint a stickley piece.