Decorating and Design - Natural Maple Trim and Cabinetry - need advice on furniture color
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rfranceen
10-13-05, 07:59 PM
Our home is trimmed in natural maple and has natural maple cabinetry in the kitchen and bathrooms. My questions is whether we're required to continue the natural maple into our furnishings. It's really hard to come by, and is quite a bit more costly than other woods. We were able to find all our bedroom furniture in natural maple, but I half think it makes the bedrooms look pretty monotonous to have so much of the same color wood. We have off-white colored carpet in the living room and bedrooms, and green and off-white colored linoleum in the kitchen and bathrooms. Our ceiling fans in our master bedroom and in our living room are a very dark colored wood (it was a model home and they came with it). We are trying to get our living room/kitchen/dining area (all one big room) decorated now, and we are trying to decide if we have to pay the price for maple furniture, or if we can get by with using a different color and/or type of wood. I don't know if this will make a difference in the answer, but I would like to try to decorate with a tuscan theme using warm colors (right now all walls are plain off-white and very boring). Our countertops are a dark green with a marbly look. Also, any ideas on how to pull the three rooms together with the one theme would be helpful since they are all one big room. Thanks for any help you can offer!
Annette
10-14-05, 09:19 AM
absolutely DO NOT choose only natural maple furniture for your whole home!
you said it yourself:
We were able to find all our bedroom furniture in natural maple, but I half think it makes the bedrooms look pretty monotonous to have so much of the same color wood. .....it can be boring! ;)
look through your favorite home magazine and what do you see? an eclectic mix of different wood tones. it's much more interesting that way. the trick is to use the same tones in varying shades. i'd take your cues from the dark wood on your ceiling fans (if you like it). use darker wood and also some painted wood pieces. if you're wanting a Tuscan look, you'll want to look for distressed/antique pieces, too. if you can find some pieces that are 2-toned (stained AND painted, or 2 different stains), all the better!
you said it yourself:
We were able to find all our bedroom furniture in natural maple, but I half think it makes the bedrooms look pretty monotonous to have so much of the same color wood. .....it can be boring! ;)
look through your favorite home magazine and what do you see? an eclectic mix of different wood tones. it's much more interesting that way. the trick is to use the same tones in varying shades. i'd take your cues from the dark wood on your ceiling fans (if you like it). use darker wood and also some painted wood pieces. if you're wanting a Tuscan look, you'll want to look for distressed/antique pieces, too. if you can find some pieces that are 2-toned (stained AND painted, or 2 different stains), all the better!