Thanks to rising awareness of sustainability and the harmful effects of man-made materials, using natural materials in homes is more popular than ever. One of the most obvious materials is timber, but how do you mix the tones of timber in your home with different tones of timber furniture without making your home look mismatched or off-kilter?
Whether matching floorboards to a dining table, or pieces of timber furniture from different time periods, the key lies within selecting timbers with similar undertones or finishes. The goal is to achieve a feeling of continuity in your home, ensuring there is one feature or characteristic that appears in every piece, tying the overall scheme together.
1. Pick a dominant wood tone
Take a good look at your home, or the room you’re working on, and establish what is the dominant wood tone. This could be the timber floors, the largest timber feature in the room or the largest piece of timber furniture. This tone of timber is your starting point.
2. Determine if your dominant tone is warm or cool
Take a good look at your dominant timber tone and have a think about whether the tone is warm or cool. Is the underlying shade within a warm family of red, yellow and orange? Or is it from a cool family of blue, white or grey undertones? Once you know what the undertone of your dominant timber is, use this to guide further selection of timber pieces. You want to mix items with similar undertones together for a feeling of cohesiveness.
3. Don’t be afraid of using contrasting colours
While keeping the undertone of your dominant timber in mind, remember that similar undertones can appear in many different colours of timber. While you may be tempted to choose timber pieces that are all similar in colour, don’t be afraid to choose contrasting colours, such as mixing dark walnut with grey-wash floors.
4. Create continuity with finish
When mixing many different tones of timber together, create continuity by selecting pieces of timber furniture and accessories with similar finishes, such as gloss, matte or grained.
5. Break it up
Don’t be afraid of breaking up the timber finishes, such as floor from furniture, by using a well-placed rug in colours that complement both tones of timber you’re trying to work into the room. Think similarly when selecting the accessories and soft furnishing you plan to use in this room, too.
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