mix and match wood species in same room?

[bob]

My wife has asked me to build her a haberdasher. Okay, I can do that. She wants to put it in our kitchen, which has a wooden floor - oak. She wants the haberdasher to also be oak. I think the piece would look much richer/nicer in mahogany or cherry. She wants oak to match the floor. Questions: If it piece is oak, will it "disappear" into the room because of the same species of wood in the floor and the piece? How would a cherry or mahogany piece look sitting on an oak floor?

I am not a big fan of oak for furniture, but oak is what our floors are, so I have to work with it.

Thanks.

Bob

[Tom Plamann]

Yes.

How would a cherry or

Much better!

I do not even like to use trim in a room that is the same species as the floor.

Tom Plamann

[Edwin Pawlowski]

No, you don't. I use what wood I want for the piece at hand. They mix up trees in the forest and I mix them up in my house. Cherry would look very nice against the oak floor.

If your wife does not like the completed piece, you can always give it away. I'll bet she will change her mind once it is in place. Ed

[RKON]

Check ABPW. I posted a picture of a Cherry Computer Cabinet on oak floors. This is in our kitchen.

[Silvan]

Contrast is good. Having two kinds of oak that aren't quite the same color, with not quite the same grain, looks IMHO cheesy. Better to not try to match at all than to try to match and fail.

[George]

Perhaps both you and your wife would like the piece better if you used some contrasting wood (2 varieties) in its construction. That takes care of your concern of it blending in. Never can tell, your wife's concern may be that she likes lighter colored woods, but may not be overwhelmed by some contrasting wood in her haberdasher.

[RKON]

For some reason my post to ABPW are not being posted.

[bob]

I shared some of the responses here with SWMBO. And guess what? She agreed! The haberdasher will now be built out of mahogany!

Thanks to all.

Bob

[Franklyn]

Bob,

I have been in the wood flooring business for over 30 years. I often run into this problem in kitchens with cabinets that are made out of oak or maple or cherry or some other species of wood. Often customers feel the floor should match the cabinets. It usually looks better to put in a floor that contrasts or compliments the cabinets so that the cabinets are highlighted. The same would apply with your piece of furniture. It should contrast or compliment the floor instead of matching it.

I guess it comes from a mentally that because it's wood it has to match. If that were true that the cabinets have to match the floor, there would have to be vinyl cabinets, ceramic tile cabinets, and carpet cabinets.

If you need some help here convincing the wife, just get any designers magazine and you will have a tough time finding furniture or cabinets that match the floor. As far as fine furniture goes look at grand pianos. Very few are oak but many are on oak floors.

Franklyn