Some colors and materials come in and out of style within the fashion and home design space. We recently talked about loud colors and how in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a strong embrace for materials and colors that screamed for attention. Other eras have been more muted and embraced softer/warmer colors and materials, like in the 1970s when earth tones were greatly used.
Today, there’s a gravitation towards letting materials and colors remain natural and exposed. It could be our desire for something that looks authentic, or perhaps it may be related to our increasing presence in the digital space and the need for something purely “analog” and truly natural in the home space. For example, many homeowners opt for a minimalist style that uses exposed and reclaimed materials, such as wood, metals, and even some fabrics.
Wood and wood color palettes are popular in homes now because it’s a great way to keep pure elements in your home and embrace the naturally occurring color palettes nature provides us. Using wood color palettes is not about manipulating naturally occurring colors but arranging them to create a peaceful space in your home.
This blog will discuss wood species and wood-inspired color palettes that can create interior color schemes that make you feel like you’re surrounded by natural beauty!
Wood color palettes are most effective when they bring a sense of the natural world indoors without feeling gimmicky or explicit in their intentions. What do I mean by this? The strategy with wood color palettes isn’t to create a fake forest within your home, just as coastal colors aren’t meant to bring an artificial beach to your home.
Nature-inspired color palettes, when done properly, will bring a taste of the outdoors home without trying to mask the home’s interior or create the false impression that you’re outside. The goal is to work with features such as textured surfaces, soft furnishings, and accent pieces that offer a rustic, natural, and woodsy quality.
Daylight is also a necessary element in this design. The more sunlight you have, the more the contrasting colors enhance the natural beauty of the wood! Curtains that diffuse the light, even uncovered windows will bring in the glow of sunlight! If there was ever a style longing for natural light, this is it!
In addition to daylight, bring in plants wherever possible. In a design void of large patterns and bold colors, green leafy plants provide a flare of color that feels like it truly belongs there!
Desktop plants and huge leafy plants, or even trees, all are just as welcome! The more plants, the better in this woodsy design style.
For furniture in your home, many different wood varieties look beautiful without any staining for color manipulation needed. Some of these beautiful woods include walnut, maple, oak, and cherry. The colors are inherently rich; not much is required of them aside from some sealants for protection against the elements. Maple is generally the lightest of the wood colors, and cherry offers a beautifully rich wood color. The darker woods might be a richly stained walnut and oak, both of which can be both rich and dramatic. If you are looking at mahogany, that wood is a saturated dark wood color that can lean towards the wine or red family.
There are some circumstances when you want to showcase a unique piece of wood. For example, some homeowners will choose to highlight a piece of rare reclaimed wood as a centerpiece. This centerpiece could be driftwood made into a coffee table, salvaged wood from a barn as shelving, or even old whiskey barrel tops used to make decorative wall art or an in-home bar. Wood gains character, color, and charm as it ages; it’s excellent to showcase reclaimed wood in your home.
What I love about being a color specialist is that the creative influences are limitless. Nature provides us with endless possibilities for color choices to create beautiful palettes. When I think about what my clients want when they ask for wood color palettes, I get inspiration from the wide variety of colors that wood offers, and I go right to creating a color palette that harmonizes with wood colors, pulling it all together for them.
Picture a home office inspired by cedar and cedar forests. Cedar is lighter in color, and it has a levity to it as finished hardwood. The Northern White-Cedar Tree has light green thin leaves that are fan-like in appearance; cedar trees are iconically beautiful evergreens. To create a wood color palette in homage to cedar trees, I would use 2-3 different browns to express the different hues found within bark/wood itself as base colors and layer in highlights and accents of light greys and soft greens. A guest could walk into this home office, and without consciously knowing the color palette was inspired by a wooded scene, but they would feel the soft presence of nature all around them.
Another great example of a nature-inspired wood color palette would be hues from mahogany and applied to a grand living room. Mahogany which I referred to earlier, is a deep-rich wood, often associated with quality antique furniture and historical architecture. To build a color palette honoring mahogany, I would use rich cordovan browns, dark reds, complemented by softer taupes and grays, along with warm golds throughout the space. I get nothing but warm feelings thinking about a grand living room with a roaring fire on winter’s night, dressed in colors honoring mahogany.
What I especially love is showing off the natural beauty of wood alongside contrasting whites and understated neutral colors. Off whites, creams, beiges, delicate grays, or even taupes, any of these colors bring out the rich color palette found in stained woods. The beauty of this approach is that the brilliance of the wood stands out against the soft white enveloping it. It’s as if the wood is a work of art, and it takes center stage with style!
It’s hard not to fall in love with beautiful woods and wooded scenes. Whether your home is a vintage victorian with high ceilings or a contemporary mid-century modern style, wood color palettes are a classy way to design your space. In my own home, I am surrounded by natural wood colors, and I absolutely love it!
What are some of your favorites? I’d love to hear from you and find out how you bring wood color palettes into your home!
