OK to break rules for wood furniture

Beautiful wood furniture is an essential ingredient of a well-decorated home. But for too long, the old rules of how to decorate with wood pieces have hampered our creativity when we are curating our living spaces. Here are three long-held maxims we can tell goodbye:

Old rule: Buffets belong in the dining room.

New rule: Buffets are fabulous all over your home!

Don’t get me wrong — I love having a buffet in the dining room. But why ground a piece of furniture this beautiful to just one room?

Buffets look fabulous in foyers. They add nice visual weight to ground a two-story entry and give you a spot to add some nice ambient lighting with lamps. They are also perfect for your living room, topped with a spectacular painting, a gallery, sunburst mirror or your flat-screen TV.

Old rule: Wood pieces should match.

New rule: Mix up your finishes.

Years ago, furniture was sold in matched sets and each wood piece in your living room, dining room or bedroom looked the same. I never went for the matchy-matchy look, preferring to pick wood pieces that add their own voice to the chorus of the space.

I work with customers every day who are OK with the individual wood pieces not matching, but they still worry the finishes are supposed to be the same color. For example, if they have dark stained wood in a room, all the pieces need to have the same stain color. Thankfully, there is no “right” or “wrong” anymore. The only voice to listen to is your own. Personally, I like a wide contrast in my home, swirling together traditional stains with painted pieces.

If you like a lot of contrast in your spaces, select wood furniture in a wide range of finishes. Just make sure the pieces work together harmoniously to avoid visual chaos. If you prefer a low-contrast look, select a few pieces with subtle tone difference, like stained cherry, mahogany and pine pieces together in the room.

If you like high-contrast decorating, let your wood pieces be a part of the story. I’m loving the trends I’m seeing of folks becoming do-ityourself warriors, snatching up old furniture bargains and giving them a new life with a few coats of peppy paint, like turquoise or orange.

Old rule: Stick with one style, traditional or contemporary.

New rule: Wed contrasting wood pieces.

Another rule we’ve tossed out of the window: All your furniture should reflect the same style. Traditional. Transitional. Contemporary. Blah blah blah. Rooms that mix in different styled furniture can be exciting.

A lot of my friends and customers are inheriting family pieces, fabulous, well-made hutches or dining tables that are in a different style from their existing furnishings. They worry the pieces won’t blend in. In my book, that can be a plus.