I wish I would have asked for samples... Photos of wood finishes are so hard to decipher!
My Q is about Sandalwood.
These three pieces have it. Does it usually look like this:
Or this, which appears quite light:
Or somewhere in between like this:
The first one is pretty stunning. Maybe they just worked the highs and lows in the finish particularly to accentuate the curves, though...
Those look all very different on my screen. If anything, the second and third look more similar to each other than the first. All nice, but different.
Sandalwood will look like photos 2 and 3.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Thank you. Is there something that is more like the first photo? I have two pages up, one from the wood finish options page on their website and the other from their catalog. They are so different, but it looks like maybe their catalog has better color representation but the listings on their website reflect sheen and if there is distressing... And I am googling photos until I am cross eyed.
I want something in a darker tone that is sort of chocolatey with a soft, silky sheen and no distressing marks... The moves will do the distressing for us!!! And with a warm, maybe slightly reddish undertone to it. Not dark, dark like java or walnut. Wish I could afford that belgian chocolate upgrade, but that is not happeneing. I was thinking about normandy, but the only photos I could see are so dark in peoples homes that I cannot tell much about it, and when I looked back on the website, it shows distressing dents.
Is mahagony what I am looking for? Some photos make it look very red, but others are just right to me. Is the distressed mahagony just sanded to have high and lowlights or does it have actual dent marks on the wood (webpage finish listings does not show any marks on it)?
What am I looking for ??? Thank you for your time and enduring patience!!!
You can get any 'distressed' finish without distressing - I do that all the time. It's impossible for me to pick colors for you based on text descriptions, sorry! my advice is to not overthink it on a York series sectional. The wood part is not all that prominent and not a key element of the piece. The wood sample photos on the H&M web site are very accurate I have found.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Hi, Savannah.
At this very moment, I have a chain of Duane's H&M wood finish samples. After reading your list of preferences, I immediately thought of Oiled Mahogany. It is absolutely beautiful and, I believe, checks everything on your list. It has a deep, deep, rich color, fantastic sheen, with that slight red undertone so typical of mahogany. As a matter of fact, it was one of the top three my husband and I were considering for the H&M pieces we just yesterday had Duane order.
TXCajun
Any "Oiled' finish is a flat sheen....
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Duane, good to know about the option of requesting no distressing. I had not thought of that.
Thank you ever so much TXCajun! Btw I'm a Texan too! Gosh, a whole ring of wood finishes... You're fortunate to have that!!!! I wish I would have realized that was an option, as I pine over every detail and hate to ask a lot of questions if I can just get it in my hands to look at myself. It is hard to pinpoint just by photos in my opinion. I actually submitted my order a few weeks ago and then got to looking at the photos of wood finishes again and changed my mind-- to what I have not known, just something besides what I had originally picked lol. Time's a tickin' as my piece will be started before long!!! Is Oiled Mahogany darker than the other (Distressed)Mahogany? And how does it compare to Normandy?
Well, you can have TXCajun send you my wood samples when she is done with them, and the nailboard that is in with it....if you don't mind mailing them back to me.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Hey, Savannah.
Whereabouts in Texas? I'm in the hill country. Born and raised a Louisiana girl, but have family in the piney woods of East Texas. I love the Texas hill country.
Duane, thanks for pointing out that the oiled wood finishe is a flat sheen. Savannah, it's good that he added that because I use the word sheen to mean a finish that is not high gloss, shiny, and so on.
Regarding samples: I believe you can request samples be mailed to you directly from H&M. Duane is much faster, but his samples must be return shipped. My husband and I did go to a local showroom, but found missing and/or limited samples for viewing. And, yes, we do our best to support local businesses. However, the one we visited is more like a big-box store and is therefore not as knowledgeable as Duane, nor as personable, and we find their prices an astonishingly thirty to thirty-three percent higher.
I did compare the Oiled Mahogany vs Mahogany vs Normandy samples. DISCLAIMER: This is coming from a gal with 50-something years old eyes! Here's what I see: The Mahogany appears to have a background tone that is slightly redder than the Oiled Mahogany. The Oiled Mahogany appears to have some darker graining, as well. Overall, my opinion is that the Oiled Mahogany is slightly darker than Mahogany. Normandy seems to have a background tone that is more golden than red. Overall, Normandy is darker than either Mahogany, but does not cross that line from dark brown into black brown. It really is very much subjective, but I hope that helps.
When in doubt, go with Duane. He is the Yoda of this forum world!
TXCajun