This will likely have as many right answeres as you can imagine.. But you need to ask yourself what do you want the gray to look like.. Hard industrial gray.. A soft semi transparent gray, Or just basic gray.. If you plan on having it as a nice piece of furniture I would recomend using a gray stain with at least 3 coats of polyuethane with light sanding between each coat and then finishing off the last coat with 000 steel wool to take the shine off and leave a glass smooth finish.. It will take some time but if it is nice wood, you will be happy with the results for a long time..
Go to Home Depot or a local paint supplier and look at color chips and finishes.. HTH..
