No matter what style of wooden furnishings you have in your home, whether pine, mahogany or oak; wood adds a beautiful touch to your home and should be shown to its best advantage. You can ensure this by choosing color schemes which complement the finish of the wood. Every wood has its own distinct grain and color; the color can of course be altered by staining the wood as desired. Various stains and varnishes have been used for centuries by furniture makers to change the color of the wood used and to play up the grain in the wood. The stains generally available on the market tend to be named for the color of wood they are meant to simulate – cherry, oak, mahogany, maple and more.
Wood furnishings will gain a patina over time which lends a richer, more complex look to the wood. More modern furnishings and veneers have less of this quality, but they have colors ranging from yellow orange and red tones to deep browns.
Look at the tones in the finish of your wood furnishings to determine the colors which you should use to accent them. It’s OK if all of your wood pieces do not match; it is contrasts instead which you should concern yourself with when determining a decorating scheme to compliment your wood furnishings.
High Contrast
Dark finishes can be showcased by using lighter colors such as a light green or blue, even brighter colors. By the same token, light colored finishes will be dramatically displayed by dark, bold colored walls.
Making these contrasts helps to make the furniture more of a focal point. If you have an especially fine piece which you’d like to draw attention to, contrasting it with the other colors in the room is a good way to go. One thing to remember is that you will want to be careful about the placement of your furniture – dark wood in a light room draws the eye, but can also give a crowded look to the room.
If your wood furnishings have medium finishes, then you will want to paint the walls a light color to make as much contrast as possible between wall and wood.
The tones of the finish can also be a starting point for the colors of the walls. For example if there is a reddish note to the finish, then you can use a light green to bring out the red in the furniture.
Yellowish woods look their best with dark greens, light blues such as teal and red and purple colors. Brown furniture which has yellow tones works well with off white to yellowish white walls and still stands out enough to draw the eye.
Antique wood furnishings with their rich patinas which combine many different tones can work beautifully with many different colors both light and dark.
Low Contrast
You can also pair your wooden furnishings with colors which are muted for a lower contrast. This is not as dramatic as high contrast decorating schemes, but does not mean that the furniture will be lost in the decor.
You can create attractive low contrast effects by using darkly finished woods against a strong color like a deep red. The color of the wood is just as deep as that of the wall, with the colors themselves creating a contrast.
Neutral colors like mushroom or taupe bring out the warmth of medium brown wood furnishings. The furniture is displayed to its best, but without drawing undue attention.
Color and Wood
Your choice of colors is a matter of personal preference of course, but you may find that some colors work better than others to bring out the qualities of the wood.
For example, take a golden brown toned wood such as pine. This wood looks its most attractive with a medium green, which both brings out the golden, honeyed tones of the wood and gives them a pleasing contrast.
A bright, minty green would likely be distracting, but a cool, grayish green is perfect.
A bright blue will work well to show the orange tones of the wood, but this is a bold, high contrast scheme – many people will prefer something more understated.
The same can be achieved with a pale orange or a tan, but this can make the wood itself fade into the background.
Finally, yellow can play up the warmth of the wood, but does not really enhance its look the way that a light green can.
