Your Guide to Mixing Wood Tones

Gone are the days of “matchy-matchy” furniture, as design trends have evolved into a lived-in feel that incorporates many wood tones in one space. While it’s not wrong to match other woods in your home, having all one shade of wood can cause a design to fall flat and make it more difficult to add or swap out pieces over time. How do you know how to mix woods and still have a cohesive look? We are here to help with some tips:

Finding the Right Undertones

First and foremost, you’ll want to examine the undertones of the existing dominant wood in the room and design your space around that. The undertones of each piece should have a warm or cool tone to it, and you’ll want to pick colors that carry that same tone throughout the space. If you already have cooler tone floors, putting warmer-looking furniture in the room might feel a bit off. Staying within the warm or cool family will set you on the right track for creating a flow in your area. As always, there are exceptions to this rule, and sometimes, contrasting undertones can create visually interesting results.

Complementing & Contrasting

You’ll want enough contrast between wood tones to look purposeful and add dimension. If a wood stain comes too close to an existing piece without being spot on, it can look like a mistake. Having contrast between design elements gives your space a layered look that appears balanced. This makes it easy to pick up pieces over time to add to your room without having to worry about it “matching” exactly. An easy formula to achieve this is to pick a light, medium, and dark stain all in the same tone family.

Tying it Together

Now that you know what kind of wood tones to choose, and how to contrast and complement each other, how do you tie it all together? Make sure you’re aiming for around three wood tones in a space. Having way too many wood tones in an area can make a room look busy. You’ll also want to bring in these colors throughout the room to really tie a design together and create interest. For example, if you have one black piece of furniture, maybe adding some black décor, hardware, or even a light fixture will help repeat the color in the room in an intentional way.

We love this trend of mixing woods because we believe wood is too beautiful to just pick one color. Bringing a cohesive, well-designed look to your space is not only achievable but easy to maintain as trends evolve. Here at the Amish Furniture Collection, we are experts in this field and are happy to help you create the space you’ve always envisioned.