Matching Hardwood Floor Finishes to Existing Woodwork

Dear Rob:

My wife and I are trying to pick out a stain color for our new hardwood floor, and we just can’t seem to agree. I’d like to pick a color that matches our cabinets, but my wife would like to pick a color that compliments some of our other design choices. What do you think?

-John in Omaha

Dear John:

When considering the use of hardwood flooring, it is important to consider the other finishes in the home that will surround the hardwood. Some of these finishes include: base board, chair rail, crown molding, window coverings, cabinets, furniture and more. Often, people tend to think that all of the other wood finishes in the home need to have exact matching hardwood species and stain finish colors.

Think of when you go into your closet and look at a collection of sweaters or pants that are all the same color, black for example. It is virtually impossible for all blacks to be the exact same shade. This is the same with hardwood. Even if you chose the same species of hardwood for your floors and the exact same species and stain for the molding, cabinets or doors in your home it would be virtually impossible for those woods to match. It is impossible to match because of different elements such as the area that the hardwood is grown, the conditions it is grown in, the species and type of stain as well as other variables.

Again, even if you could get everything to match, from a design standpoint, you don’t want all of the woods in your home to match; you want them to coordinate or blend, but not to match exactly. If you could get everything to match, it would look like you went to the wood store and picked everything in your home off the same shelf. That’s no fun! A home looks more balanced and well planned if each different type of wood blends rather than matches. When everything matches, it takes away from the natural beauty of the product as well as its natural characteristics.

Taking it one step further than floors, molding, cabinets and doors coordinating the same “rules” apply to furniture and accessories. It is perfectly acceptable to have a stained cherry piece of furniture in the same room with stained oak floors and doors. It is also perfectly acceptable to have more than one stained species or color of furniture in the same room as a different stained floor or molding.

This advice does not mean that you should mix oak trim with cherry doors with maple cabinets just so that everything does not match – it means that it is ok and expected for all wood finishes in a home not to match exactly.

Be creative, but most importantly, have your expectations set to where you understand that even the same species of hardwood stained the same color will not match exactly.

-Rob

Water Based Hardwood Finishes & Other Innovations with Chad Nordhagen of BonaKemi

In This Podcast Episode

Floor guy, Rob McNealy, interviews Chad Nordhagen, Director of Marketing & Product Management at BonaKemi about the company and their innovative products. They discuss how BonaKemi pioneered waterborne hardwood floor finishes, and a new hardwood floor mop which sprays a BonaKemi floor cleaner.

More About Chad Nordhagen and BonaKemi

Chad Nordhagen joined BonaKemi in early 2006 as a marketing project developer and quickly moved into the position of finish product manager, where he was responsible for all wood floor finishing products, as well as activities for all market channels, including: new product introductions, promotions, line extensions and meeting the demands of the marketplace for these products.

In his current role as director of marketing and product management, Nordhagen leads marketing and Bona’s Strategic Business Units (SBU) in Finishes, Floor Care and Machines/Abrasives. He is responsible for creating and implementing marketing strategies, developing sales and public relations efforts and overseeing product development for BonaKemi, while seeking out global solutions.

Most recently, Nordhagen comes from Echostar Communications Corporation as promotions and communications manager, where he focused on sales lead generation, sales collateral support materials, trade shows, event marketing and retail sales.

Chad acquired his MBA from the University of Denver with a focus on E-Commerce Marketing and earned his BA in Business from Washington State University.

Since 1919, BonaKemi has provided professionals with premium quality finishing and cleaning products and systems developed to maintain the natural beauty of wood floors. With global headquarters in Malmö, Sweden and subsidiaries and distributors in over 50 countries, BonaKemi has led the industry worldwide with innovative, environmentally responsible solutions to a formerly hazardous and toxic process. The pioneer of waterborne finishes and dust containment in the industry, Bona provides the cleanest, most convenient and healthiest hardwood floor finishing process available.

The BonaKemi product line includes a trailer-mounted dust containment system, waterborne hardwood floor finishes, and floor care products, including the hardwood floor mop pictured here, which sprays a specially designed hardwood floor cleaner.