I have solid cherry interior doors, with traditional cherry stain, throughout my home. I want to install a swinging terrace door leading out to my terrace. The manufacturer, Loewen, offers such doors in either douglas fir or mahogany. Would the mahogany terrace door best complement my cherry interior doors? Should I use a cherry stain on the mahogany door, some other stain, or leave it natural? All advice is welcome.
Lawrence,
Thats a bit of a chocolate and vanilla question, But I'll tell you what
*not* to do. Don't become invested in the idea that you can make tha mahogany perfectly match the cherry. Color matching is a very fussy trial an error process. Even then, the grain pattern of mahogany doesn't look like that of cherry. Since you don't have scrap with which to experiment, I would go for something different enough that it doesn't look like a poor attempt matching.Let it be its own thing.
-Steve
Even if you get a perfect match today, it will not be so perfect in 6 months, even less so in 12.
My entire house is trimmed out in cherry (doors, cabinetry, trim, etc). Over the years I've added some mahogany pieces here and there. Built an entire wall entertainment system out of mahogany. While it's definitely not a match, unstained mahogany will, over time, develop the same color tones of cherry. I like the subtle (and some not so subtle) contrasts between the different types of woods around my house. My advice is not to worry about the match and just enjoy the woods and the unique characteristics of each. To my eye, natural mahogany and cherry are nice together.
Gary in KC
If the mahogany is dark, which is typical, then I do not think you will be happy with what I would expect to be a miss-match since you will not be able to stain it "lighter". My cherry is light orange and is deepening over time, but I could not imagine getting mahogany to look even close.
If you go with mahogany, I would leave it natural. With an oil based uerthane it will be darker than cherry, but attractive in its own way.
Dave Paine.
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