It’s very easy to get “wood overload” and have everything clash. There IS such a thing as too much of a good thing. It takes RESTRAINT in order for all of the beautiful grains to be appreciated, and not become a visual cacophony that overwhelms the eyes.

Wood is bossy. It has patterns, and all kinds of colors. Combining wood is similar to getting dressed in the morning, and not combining a red Buffalo Plaid shirt with a pair of brown and cream herringbone pants, and navy and yellow striped tie. You have to asses the pattern, scale, and color, just as you would with clothing choices. If you want “a lot” of wood, you want mostly wood without busy prominent grains, like maple, clear alder, and some firs. And you want no more than 3 coordinated tones, with little pattern, in a single view. Everything else is a solid supporting color, or a different scale coordinating color pattern. That’s Walls, furniture, and rugs.

The other option is you deliberately choose a busy wood like hickory or cabin grade oak as the main feature, and the only choice of wood for your flooring throughout. Then use only a SINGLE other wood, without a prominent grain, as the accent wood. That wood should pick up some of the tones in the busier wood. Like a light clear natural maple picks up on the blonde tones in hickory.

Pick your star. Then pick supporting players that coordinate, and let the star shine.

Thank you both. We'll use wood in flooring, select shelves for accents, some cabinets in the kitchen, etc, but I believe you're both right in that we want something with minimal grain.

When I think "modern and light", I think maple or birch - both of which have quiet grain. Walnut can also achieve a modern look, but it does have strong grain. Also, if your kitchen has a lot of direct natural light, walnut fades and often gets yellower with time (most wood species darken so walnut is somewhat atypical). Hickory and alder often come off looking more rustic unless the pieces are picked carefully.

I also think of woods as being rustic or more refined and to me hickory is rustic and walnut more refined so I would not mix them.

beautiful door