I have light wood colored doors, trim and cabinets in my home. I have dark wood tables in my family room and I am thinking of putting in wood floors and buying new bookshelves and an entertainment center. I have a small condo and want all of the pieces to work together. What decorating rules should I follow?
CLIFFORD
Comments
Choose a color for the floor that will anchor the room. More than likely dark in this case, and use an area rug under the tables. Match the entertainment center to the tables so all the furniture is the same color. Use accent colors in fabric and decoration to tie everything together.
Put all the colors on a board or table close to each other to see what colors go best together.
I don’t believe all the wood in your house must match perfectly. If you go with a floor that is multi colored you can bring all the colors together. In my house I have a room with different colored woods. The thing that ties it all together is my coffee table. It has a number of different wood inlaid on the top. It looks great.
A good rule of thumb is: if you cant match it exactly, then dont attempt to match at all. otherwise you end up drawing attention to the fact that it doesnt match.
group the wood in your home into 4 categories: (1)Furniture..(2)Trim and moldings (including doors and staircases)..(3) Cabinetry.. (4) Hardwood or laminate floors.
As long as you match or closely match within each category, that is fine. And there are sub categories too: ie. living room furniture, dining room furniture, bedroom furniture. no one expects to see the bedroom furniture match with the living room furniture.
I would try and get very similar colored wood for the bookshelves and entertainment centre as you have in the coffee tables.
Using a brown-based palette (anything from taupe to terra cotta to espresso)for your wall paint and carpeting can also help to harmonize differing wood tones.
would probably be best to go with a mid-tone finish on your floors.
You can mix as long as styles are in the same family. I personally like cherry and black and mahogany works well with that. But you still have to keep some unity to your style. While it’s fine to mix antiques with modern or traditional, it takes a good eye to do so. I keep to a very neo-classic look so contemporary works well with that. Even if your cabinets are light wood, you could still choose a darker wood floor, but in a small condo I would stay with a light wood flooring to keep it open. For your living room since you already have darker wood tables, do the same with your entertainment center and bookshelves. It will give that room a cohesive look. Use your rugs and accessories to pull all the looks together.
“Woods don’t fight”…which means you can mix them up (to a point, that is). They don’t all have to be exactly the same color or finish but should blend. Does that help?
