Bed color suggestions to go with medium bronze paint?

[jcwren]

I'm getting ready to order a Brothers deluxe oak bed kit for my '70 C10 stepside longbed, which requires staining and sealing. I'm not terribly color coordinated, and I'm looking for ideas on what color stain would go nicely with the medium bronze paint color.

Should I go with something that's closer to matching the paint, or something more contrasty? I know colors and such are all a matter of opinion, but as I say, I don't have an eye for color. I know what I like and don't like when I see it, but I can't put two colors up in my mind's eye and say "yeah, that'll look good!".

If you've got medium bronze paint or something close, pictures would be welcome.

(Hopefully I'll have this thing on the road by the end of January. She (and she needs a name) is about 3 days away from running again, and I need to put in the bed kit, install the rear wiring harness, whatever exhaust I go with after the headers, and new tires).

Link to album of pictures.

[special-K]

Maychy would work, but the truck has little contrast to the paint color. White on the wheels, but that's no good for the bed. Any natural wood color in the realm of brown will go with the paint and nothing else there to compete. I think I'd go with a non-match, either clear and natural (lighter than paint) or something like the fake woodgrain used on these trucks (darker, like walnut stain). What I think would go best with the restored stock look would be thinned out medium bronze applied as a stain. Kind of like original being matching, yet allow grain detail of stain

[CC69Rat]

I would do a light colored wood. Oak with no stain probably. Just several coats of Spar and let the beauty of the wood come through. The Spar will make the wood grain have light and darker wood color range to it.

If not lighter I'd go really dark, maybe a walnut stain. Just saying with that color you could do either and it would look awesome. Me.. I think light.

Here's an old 68 I did. I know it's not Bronze but it's a deep gold .. similar color family.

[jcwren]

Thanks! I think I like the idea of the lighter over the darker colors. I might also try a couple different samples on the bottom side of the wood as test colors.

[jocko]

Dare to be Different!! paint it up with the medium bronze just like the factory did - that’s something you never see on rebuilds/restos anymore.

[sick472]

I really like the idea of using the bronze colored paint thinned down to make a stain. It would blend and POP at the same time. I would hesitate to do that with a primary or secondary color, but with earthy tones...it would be in my best taste.