question on staining/painting furnature

[cigarmonkel]

So my new roommate wants to paint her grandmothers wooden table and 6 chairs but it has the beautiful markings on it (not sure what these are called and also not sure on what kind of wood it is). Neither of us are unsure of how to go about painting it without covering up the dark colored markings on it. I know that staining it wouldn't be a problem cause the stain wouldn't cover them up but a paint color would. Do they make colored stains? Any help on this would be very much appreciated thanks in advance!