Is walnut and maple appropriate?

[Ken Masco]

Good day,
I'm designing a library wall with a built in slant top desk. Im fixated on using some really great fiddleback maple veneer I have as the panel on the front of the desk. I've been playing around with Dye and Liberon finishing oil on the maple and made a color that really makes the figure pop and goes very nicely with walnut. So now the question is style. Finally, my question; would walnut and fiddleback maple be appropriate materials for mission style? I'm talking about the desk mostly with perhaps frame and panel end caps on the shelving.
Any and all thoughts would be welcome

[Jack Camillo]

As far as for mission style, can't say, but in general, as you probably already know (since you are considering them), walnut and maple go together like peanut butter and jelly. Hard to beat that combination when a combination is in order.

[lowell holmes]

Of course it would.

It may not be conventional, but I think it would be striking in appearance.

I definiely would consider the combination in a Greene and Greene piece.

IMO, cherry and maple work well together.

[John Thompson]

Walnut was used in A & C Mission on occasion but I have never seen an abundance of maple. A & C style covers a large amount of real estate. Most think of Stickley.. G & G and Mission when the term comes up but... it goes many.. many miles beyond that with Barnsley's.. Mc Intosh.. etc. to the point of bordering on art noveau.

So.. with that said I doubt anyone could question the use of walnut and maple used on Mission. Pin-pointing a style is not really important compared to form and function.. proportion.. etc. as I see it and I have studied A & C.

Go for it!....

[Ken Masco]

Thank you folks for the good advice. I'm excited about the project and will post pics as it progresses

[Mike Cruz]

I LOVE that combination. Can't go wrong.

[ken gibbs]

I fabricated the computer desk top I am using right now out of hard maple and walnut I cut myself. I used walnut to "frame" the desk top and bread boards and sugar maple and used maple to infill the top. It shows off the grain and finished beautifully.

[Darnell Hagen]

The only advice I have is to keep the accent wood an accent. I see projects where every part is an alternating species and the effect is loud and garish (and a rookie move in my opinion). Especially with very contrasting woods like maple and walnut, and double for the subdued lines of the mission style. Choose a primary species, then add slowly and deliberately from the secondary.

Specifically for mission furniture, I'd save the secondary wood for tenon wedges, square plug covers (round ones look like whimsical poka dots), drawer pulls, and an inlay on the skirt or stretcher. I wouldn't do walnut frame/ maple panel, unless requested by the client.

I see Maple Arts and Crafts furniture as feminine, walnut as masculine, and both more refined or sophisticated than traditional oak. You may want to lighten the visual weight of components to match. A gloss finish looks more appropriate on these species in this style, as well.