Compliment to Brazilian Cherry floors

December | Posted in Wood and Materials on January 24, 2007 01:24am

Hi Everyone,

I’m putting in Brazilian Cherry floors in a large portion of my home that are not stained, just clear-coat protected. I like the durability (very hard wood) and color of the species and the cost for floorboards was in-line with many others. I would like to install a significant amount of wood trim in the rooms (don’t like the painted stuff), but am trying to understand options for which species to use that is more reasonable in cost and complements the floors.

Oak seems too grainy to complement the floors and domestic cherry seems too irregular in color to deal with considering the amount of feet I’ll need to mill….

so confused on this one..not sure what to use. I’ll probably end up milling my own trim, so that’s a factor as well. I have a pretty good supplier of hardwoods nearby carrying almost everything domestic. I’m willing to stain the trim too.

Any thoughts from the collective wisdom of everyone?

Regards,

Rich K

Replies

DonC | Jan 24, 2007 01:41am | #1
I have a supplier that lets me hand pick the Cherry trim. I select only heartwood. On rare occasions when I stain Cherry, I use cherry stain labeled Ace Hardware. I have tried several on the market and have tried mixing my own but all fail in comparison to the Ace brand.

I hope you can find a supplier that will let you pick heartwood Cherry.

Edited 1/24/2007 12:49 am ET by DonC
stantheman | Jan 24, 2007 01:51am | #2
December

if you're going to mill it yourself, why not just go ahead and get more B. Cherry flooring stock? I see it advertised in the paper all the time in the $3-4 / SF range which is cheaper than what I can buy it for at lumber dealer.

I agree oak would not match at all. Perhaps walnut would be close, grain wise, with a reddish stain. There are places that stock walnut in standard trim moulding shapes.
cscwem | Jan 24, 2007 02:10am | #3
the real name of brazillian cherry is Jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril)

I put down jatoba flooring throughout my house for the durability and used mahogany for all of the other casework and trim. the two seem to compliment each other very well.

any wood with a straight subtle grain pattern of a reddish cast should work well...I have found that since there is such a broad spectrum of color in jatoba that it's not hard to match at all.

I have done some casework out of jatoba, including a set of stairs, but opted to use the mahogany for my own house....i found jatoba difficult to work, almost brittle, hard to nail through or into. it is really really hard and does a hell of a number on cutters and other tooling

while not my first choice for millwork, it's not too bad to work with for smaller furniture pieces.
frenchy | Jan 24, 2007 05:58pm | #4
December,

There's a house near here that has something of the opposite! The floors are black walnut but all the trim is Brazlian cherry!

The interior designer who dreamt that combination up really understood how to make a room seem rich and fabulous!

All black walnut is nice but lacks something, same with all Brizilian cherry.. The cabinets in the room are Mahogany with polished brass and the whole room has this sense of wealth and opulance that you simply cannot imitate..
NumberNine | Jan 24, 2007 06:00pm | #5
I think it's the latest issue of hardwood floor magazine that shows a spectacular jatoba floor with walnut as a complimentary accent material..
user-85737 | Jan 27, 2007 12:31am | #6
I don't know where you live. But jatoba in my area is cheaper then Mahogany, cherry and walnut. You can get clear 4/4 S2S jatoba for about $3.00 bf and 8/4 for $3.50 bf.

Brandon