Furniture, Paneling, and Flooring: How to Balance Wood Tones and Textures

If you love wooden furniture, no doubt you’ve learned by now that it can be very difficult to get two tones to match. Unless there is a tin of varnish involved, wood tones migrate from light to dark, hitting every shade in between, which means it can be difficult to get a fully matching room. It’s this organic difference that makes them coveted, as much as maligned. Maybe, in your case, you love that. Maybe there is something so natural about mismatched wood that’s appealing to the eye. If that’s the case, we’ve got the guide for you. We’re going over how you can use different tones and textures of wood to create a stylish and comfortable home.

Match

If you’ve got a lot of wood in your home, like the various pieces of furniture, the panelling, the flooring, etc. in order to make everything feel stylish and cohesive, you can focus on the one wood tone and texture and apply it everywhere. Your shelves, seating, tables, and floor can be of the same wood to make everything look like it was meant to be.

However, this can be difficult. You might have to get serving tables that match your dining room floors or panelling, or you can upgrade your furniture with a lick of varnish so that everything matches.

If you are going to go the ‘matching’ route, you might want to incorporate some high contrast to give the eye something to focus on. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. For example, if you were to paint a room white and then place nothing but white furniture, your eye has nothing to focus on. The picture above features matching woods but high contrast black accents to make sure nothing blends into each other.

Mismatch

However, you might want to go entirely in the other direction. Subtly, mismatching all your wood tones and textures makes for a happy middle ground, where everything nicely looks like it fits in well together, but it isn’t too bland to the eye. You may have found a range of wonderful dining room sets but were worried about the mismatch – now you can indulge. 

But there is also the option of going wild with different tones and textures. Place your beechwood dresser next to your mahogany headboard. Place different panelling, side tables, and other wooden features next to each other for a maximalism look that is turned down a few notches by the fact that it’s all wood.

Wood wall panelling

It’s worth mentioning that wood panelling is going through a new trendy phase. If you were to swipe through TikTok or Instagram DIY reels, you’ll see a lot of people nailed planks of wood to their walls. Sometimes they paint over them as molding; other times, the wood is the wall. This is a natural alternative to an accent wall, somewhat akin to an alternative to exposed brick too.

Typically, the wood used for this panelling is uniform, but there are no rules telling you to keep it that way. If you like the natural rustic look of wood, you will like the mismatched nature of different wood tones for your own home.