Furniture (big dining table) on oak floors

[andrew whicker]

Hi,

Potential customer wants a dining table on oak floors (they really want to show off)... I'm not sure what I envision wood choice wise. Do you have any problems with furniture not standing out enough / clashing with the oak floors?

I think walnut works will with the trim and white walls.. I'm just concerned with how they may clash w/ the floor... Makes me almost want to paint or ebonize the bottom of the table to help separate the two species.

Thoughts?

cheers,

[Mel Fulks]

No. But I do think dark floors work better . Yes ,that means no matter how expensive and great the species. Every thing
in the room should be good, but they can't all be a star.

[Frank Drackman]

We have oak floors & I made a big double pedestal table. The pedestals are hard maple dyed dark grey, almost black. I think that the contrast works great.

[andrew whicker]

photos?

(more words)

[glenn bradley]

Oak comes in so many colors I don't know how to answer with out pictures.

[Jim Becker]

If it's "wood on wood" and there will be no area rug, then contrast is your friend...and as folks mentioned, we need to visually understand the situation to provide more guidance.

[John TenEyck]

With no guidance from your customers, and your comment that "they really want to show off" I would think about some kind of fancy grain mahogany or other exotic for the top, sitting on an ebonized base. Curly maple or flame birch would really stand out, too.

John

[Richard Coers]

Walnut would be too soft of wood if there are kids in the home. Homework with a ball point pen will leave the words and numbers in the wood. If they don't mind pads and a table cloth, then it's okay. But daily eating on walnut would show character very quickly!

[Bill Dufour]

My brother made a walnut and Acacia kitchen table. Light color marble slabs for the top to take any abuse. It looks good against a room full of oak floors. These are the oak floors from the 50's. no stain just clear wax.
Bil lD

[andrew whicker]

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The first photo is the dining area. The second photo (with the big doggie) shows the floors. I wish I had better photos...

[Jim Dwight]

That looks like natural oak, not obvious white or red but they overlap in appearance, flooring with a oil based poly finish. If so, that is what I have. I currently have oak furniture in the great room but I plan to change it to cherry for more contrast. Cherry starts out at about the color of red oak heartwood but fairly quickly darkens from sunlight to be as dark as walnut. Walnut lightens from sunlight so it will eventually be lighter than cherry.

I keep talking about my dining room table but will get to it eventually. I plan a base of southern yellow pine (selected framing lumber) ebonized with black ink. The top will be cherry. I think it will go well with the oak flooring. Making the entire table out of cherry would be another option but I think I like the black base idea better and it will certainly be cheaper. I work slow enough that the framing lumber will have time to dry out some more during construction. I recently finished a bunk bed for the grandkids that is totally framing lumber and it worked out fine.

[Stan Calow]

get a big plank of walnut, finish it with whatever you would normally use, and bring it to them to show the contrast. If its Ok with them, thats their choice. I have seen oak floors that had walnut trim around the edges (a mitered frame) and it looked OK.

But I keep thinking that big dog's going to scratch it up anyway.

[Mark Gibney]

I think John TenEyck is right, a figured maple top will be both stunning and hard wearing.
Whatever wood you use to support the top won't matter that much, the shape of the base and the top will be what makes the table.
As others have said you can use walnut for the base so there's contrast, or ebonize another wood.

You know, as I type responses like this out I'm often aware that the OP most likely knows all this, and the usefulness of asking questions on here is that the forum is a sounding board, and it's really good to get the questions out of your head onto the page. I often ramble on to my wife about this and that wood, what type of joint, yada yada, as she responds "yes dear" every few minutes, but it's useful to me to do so.

[Andy D Jones]

Snip...

You know, as I type responses like this out I'm often aware that the OP most likely knows all this, and the usefulness of asking questions on here is that the forum is a sounding board, and it's really good to get the questions out of your head onto the page. I often ramble on to my wife about this and that wood, what type of joint, yada yada, as she responds "yes dear" every few minutes, but it's useful to me to do so.

Amen!

Describing a problem requires (and facilitates) understanding the problem.

The act of verbalizing (and/or documenting) the problem forces us to organize our thoughts, which often reveals a/the solution (and rules out non-solutions).

One thing I haven't seen yet in this discussion is how to implement flexibility in a "fixed" (non-mobile) dust collection system.

Lots of extra drops?

Lengthy flex hose from every drop? Is the flex "permanently" attached to the drop, or the machine?

Or do the mobile machines each have a fixed "workplace" with associated DC drop, to where they are always rolled from their storage place when used? This includes fixed workplaces that are shared, at different times, between different machines.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Jim Becker]

I would go darker for contrast, regardless of the species. So if the client wants oak, no problem. It can be made darker. While walnut initially would provide the contrast, walnut gets lighter over time and that contrast will be lost.

[andrew whicker]

I also think Maple would be rad. I was looking at slabs / figured maple lumber table tops last night... I don't want live edge on this one.

[andrew whicker]

I think John TenEyck is right, a figured maple top will be both stunning and hard wearing.
Whatever wood you use to support the top won't matter that much, the shape of the base and the top will be what makes the table.
As others have said you can use walnut for the base so there's contrast, or ebonize another wood.

You know, as I type responses like this out I'm often aware that the OP most likely knows all this, and the usefulness of asking questions on here is that the forum is a sounding board, and it's really good to get the questions out of your head onto the page. I often ramble on to my wife about this and that wood, what type of joint, yada yada, as she responds "yes dear" every few minutes, but it's useful to me to do so.


At the end of the day, I'm going to go with what I want.. but what I want could certainly be swayed by what others' ideas... I enjoy hearing everyone's different viewpoints. No, this isn't a serious discussion. It's a sounding board. I appreciate the (helpful) responses.

: )

[Frank Drackman]

One picture facing sun & one away from sun.

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[Jack Frederick]

I built a white oak pedestal table with Mahogany accents. Bench tops are Sapele.

[Mel Fulks]

Certainly no clash there. Fine table. Reading again to make sure I'm understanding your goal ,I don't see a problem.
Still think darker floor looks better, but that is the most often used, and I am influenced by "standard ". Interior decorator
might say " The darker floor is more grounding ...more formal "

[Mel Fulks]

I like it ,and conclude that the color contrast takes away all expectations that the monks commissioned it. And I love
the 'bacon bench!'. Nice modern set .

[Jack Frederick]

It doubles as the “fort” for the grands and the dogs. They are under it more than at it. Blankets, sheets, it is a Star Ship! Thanks!

[johnny means]

Just plopped this walnut behemoth onto a client's 1800s oak floors. It was pretty stunning in the space.

[Jim Becker]

That's really drool-worthy, Johnny!

[Tom Bender]

Normally I would take a direction from the room, maybe paint the base in a similar color, but in this case........

Ok how about matching the wood trim?

Nice job Jack