IMO, they don't need to match. The closet matches the floor so nicely. If your bed was a different color of wood, do you think it would need to match the closet? That wood is gorgeous! Polyurethane it and enjoy.

Whatever you do I would put doors on it so people coming up the stairs cannot see into your closet. But open or not, I would paint the closet.

It's in a closet. I wouldn't paint or stain it, but I would finish it. General Finishes makes an awesome high performance water based topcoat that will convert the wood to an ultra smooth, durable finish which will be easy to dust or clean.

If you usually leave both doors open, I would paint it to match. If not, I'd just put a finish on the wood without staining.

So here is another pic showing how the two relate behind the wall. Not surprised we have a split vote. One minute I think painted, next I think we should leave it.

Closet is made of maple and floor is oak, so they don't match exactly, but it's not bad together.

We are still deciding on how to do the doors (and waiting until we can afford them). Original plan was 3 sliding panels (definitely white) but then I saw the most gorgeous closet with hinged doors on either side. It will likely be sliding.

Next up is decision on pulls. Same on both units? I was thinking cup pulls on the bedroom side, but the closet looks like it needs something more modern (and possibly recessed in order for the doors to bypass).

Carpenter is hilarious and was all upset about us doing doors and covering up his beautiful work.

You could also do bi-fold doors. They're making some nice ones these days.

Ideally, I'd leave the maple as it is and put doors on the closet.

paint

If you are doing doors, I would do a clear coat of some kind. Less manitenance.

If the closet built-ins are stain-grade wood, then stain or do a clear coat. Clear maple would be nice, imo. I don't think they need to match your bedroom built-ins.

brushworks, thank you for that info. I'm having a heck of a time findiing a topcoat for our island. I keep repainting it after the topcoats fail over top of the chalk paint. I don't want to go thru the same thing with this.

I'm leaning towards leaving it and clear coating it. Especially if we go with white doors. I may try to stain it a bit to better match the floors. The maple looks quite pink against the gold oak.

Tibbrix, I'll try to see what the new bifolds look like. I kind of like the sliding because they'd allow us easier access to the corners, but I'm thinking of the old bifolds we had when I was little.