8 Tips for Decorating with Wood Furniture

Stained wood furniture, especially vintage or antique, adds character, but it can be tricky to integrate into a room. Too much of any one furniture style or wood finish and your space looks like a museum, but a lively mix is visually interesting and full of personality. Whether you’re working with a hand-me-down family heirloom or a vintage piece you scored for a bargain, decorating with wood furniture is all about achieving a balance and style contrast with the other elements in the room. Use these tips on how to work “old brown furniture” into your decor to give it soul and your own personal style.

1. Rethink the purpose of the piece.

Go beyond an item’s original use to find creative ways, and places, to put it in your space. Here an antique wood dresser works beautifully in a dining room as a bar, sidebar, and storage for linens and dishes. A wood nightstand can work as a side table in the living room as long as it’s the right height for the surrounding furniture. An armoire is great for storing games, books, and toys in a family room—best of all, you can close away the visual clutter.

2. Mix furniture styles and eras.

A mix of wood furniture from different time periods gives a room instant history. Here an simple wood dining table is paired with iconic midcentury chairs (these are called Cesca chairs) and an heirloom hutch. What makes all these pieces work together is the great contrasts in their styles and the similarities in the color of the wood—both the table and hutch are stained an orangey brown and the rattan picks up on that warmth while the black-painted frames snaps the whole scene to attention.

3. Pair dark furniture with dark walls.

Dark furniture can look great against white or very light walls, but all that contrast can make for a lot of visual noise. If you’re going for a little bit quieter look with your dark wood furniture, try a dark and moody color for the walls. That helps the furniture blend in with its background for a more calming look overall. For example, in this bedroom, a dark cherry wood nightstand is set against very dark walls to create a cozy, cocoon-like space. But notice the dark wall and furniture are balanced with plenty of white on the trim, bed and bedding, and the curtains. The floor is wood, too, but in a much lighter stain.

4. Pay attention to undertones.

If you’re not sure what color to pair with wood furniture, other wood tones are generally a safe bet, but you do need to pay attention to the undertones of the pieces you are trying to mix. Wood finishes often feature undertones that appear yellow, orange, red, blue-gray, or dark brown. Mixing pieces in with the same or similar undertone—notice the dining table and chairs share are a similar warm brown as the legs of the side chair—works well as long as there is enough style contrast among the pieces to avoid monotony. Then you want to add a piece that goes either much lighter or much darker than the main wood color. Here that’s the vitrine, which is much darker and a little cooler than the rest of the furniture. Tie all those wood tones together with a neutral paint color and natural materials such as the sisal rug.

5. Break up furniture “sets.”

Using too many wood pieces, especially those made from dark woods like cherry or walnut, can overpower the design of the room and make it feel crowded. We recommend breaking up furniture sets—such as a matching bed and dressers or a matching dining table, chairs, and hutch. For example, if you inherited a bedroom set, choose one standout piece, such as the bed or a dresser, to use in the room. For the other pieces, either use them in different rooms or sell or donate them. In this bedroom, the bed is stained wood but all the other furniture is painted white, which makes a contrast that makes even a very traditional cherry sleigh bed like this look fresh and modern.

6. Add colorful accessories.

Popping in colorful accents helps lighten up a dark, serious piece of furniture like this dresser—both in color and in mood. There are lots of ways to this. Lay a brightly patterned textile runner across the top. Perch a bold lamp and/or artwork or mirror on top of it. Hang a colorful tassel from a handle or land it on top of a colorful rug. In a bedroom outfitted with wood furniture, bring in color via bedding and the walls. Again, look to the wood’s undertone to guide your color decisions, aiming for a pleasing contrast.

7. Paint it!

If you really can’t make that dark wood finish work in your space, stripping and painting the piece is always an option. You can rarely go wrong painting any piece of furniture black or a variation of white, in either high-gloss or matte finish. These versatile neutrals do a good job of showcasing a graceful silhouette while visually erasing some of the details that can make a piece look dated. If you’re feeling splashier, go for it with a bold color that will really stand out in the room. While you’re at it, swap out the original hardware with modern knobs and pulls that will contrast with the style of the piece.

8. Give it a wow background.

Throw the spotlight on a special piece of wooden furniture by putting it in front of a highly saturated wall color, such as the kelly green paint color behind this wooden desk. Like this orange-y oak desk, lots of wood furniture has a warm undertone. Choosing a cool, though still bold color for the wall sets up a visually interesting contrast with the piece, not only between color temperatures but also in overall style. The humble, cozy wooden desk nods to the past, while the bright, clear green takes a sure-footed step into the future. Setting up strong contrasts like this makes the use of of “old brown furniture” seem intentional and modern.