Display omitted •The transparent coatings can bond wood firmly.•Maintaining the natural beauty of wood texture.•Samples have the remarkable thermoresponsive behaviour.•Surface properties of modified wood changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic.•Spherical particles were neatly arranged in the surface coating of modified wood. The smart reversible thermoresponsive wood with hydrophobic performance was fabricated by depositing modified thermoresponsive coatings on wood surfaces. The modified composite films were prepared by entrapping thermochromic materials (TM) supported on the 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (AEPT) into polyvinyl alcohol solution (PVA). All the samples possessed superior reversible thermoresponsive property, and the thermochromic response rate of TM-APTES/PVA modified wood was higher than the other samples. The attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) spectra demonstrated that the TM-APTES/PVA composite polymer films have been successfully settled onto wood surfaces. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and pull-off test results proved that the modified wood possessed better dispersion stability of TM particles and stronger interfacial adhesion than TM/PVA coated wood. Furthermore, the surface properties of wood materials changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic after chemical modification.