Mixing wood tones only works when you mean it

The fear of mixing woods produces rooms where everything is the same honey oak and nothing can be added. The opposite fear produces a jumble of close-but-not-quite stains.

Pick a spread: one light, one dark, and one thing that is not wood — painted, metal, stone. The contrast reads as intention. The near-miss reads as leftovers.

In the studio, if two tables of almost the same brown sit together, replace one. Your eye already knows they disagree. The preview just makes it harder to deny.

Floors count as a wood. They are the largest one. Start there.