After I posted on our Instagram story asking what y'all want us to write about on our website, one of the questions we received was "can you use multiple wood types/finishes when decorating?"
The answer is YES!
To be honest, this was a question I had myself when we first moved in because we have beautiful red oak hardwood floors that are stained a dark grey. I love our floors, but also love a more warm wood such as mango or white oak which I knew I wanted to incorporate in our home.
Here is a close up of our floors in the natural day light unedited.
1. Repeat the same wood tone in several places
Our master bedroom has the same grey floors, but I really wanted to add warm, wood furniture. Rather than picking separate wood tones for the dresser and end tables, I kept the wood tones all the same for each piece of furniture. The mango wood I chose is now the dominant tone in the room and all pieces are similar in color. By having several pieces in a different tone, the room is more cohesive. This is a route you can go if you are not looking to make a statement, but rather keep a blended look.
After choosing a light mango wood, I tried to keep all future wood tones the same as the dominant mango. I stained the frame of our art in Early American which matched the dresser. Additionally, the Boucle chair by Article has a similar wood tone in the legs.
2. Don't be afraid of contrasting colors
Our office and master bedroom both make use of lighter wood tones in our furniture that contrast our darker floors.
Our large desk and book shelf units in the office not only serve as a strong contrast against the dark walls, but they also provide a warm contrast to our darker floors.
The cane daybed we built also provides a contrast to the darker floors.
3. Use similar undertones
We got lucky with our floors because even though they are stained grey, the natural red color of the red oak does pull through as an undertone. This allows us to use both warm and cool colors. Here are two examples of our floors showing both cool and warm undertones. Most floors will not be able to play off both warm and cool, so in that case I would stick to the dominant undertone of your floor.
In our guest bedroom our floors appear warmer because of the other wood tones we used for our wood slat wall and custom built bed frame.
But in our dining room the floors appear more cool and blue because of the dark stain we chose for our kitchen table. I promise you, these are the same floors, but they just are picking up the different colors of the surrounding furniture.
4. Stick to 2-3 wood tones
One of my favorite design accounts for inspiration is jean stoffer design. If you are ever in need of some inspiration photos of how to mix wood tones, but still have them appear cohesive...she is your girl! Here is a great example of how she used several wood tones in one open space, but repeated them throughout the kitchen and dining area for a cohesive look.
The island cabinetry and built in bench are the same wood grain and stain. The beams are a different wood/stain combo than the island, but they connect the two spaces. And of course the floors are yet another different wood/stain combo, but they also go throughout both spaces for a cohesive look. It is also hard to tell from this photo, but the chairs at the island and the kitchen table are of similar grain/stain, so you can see that all of the wood tones she uses repeat themselves that way they do not look like a "mish mash" of several different tones, but rather a planned space.
And there you have it! My take on mixing wood tones/types. Like I said, I am no design expert...I am a physical therapist for a living, but this is simply what I have observed and what I have found works!