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What Wall Color Matches Warm Hickory Staining?

A warm hickory stain contains tones of brown and slight hints of red. To pick the right colors to go with this type of stain, staying within the warm color group is necessary. From there, you can choose contrasting, complementary or coordinating colors to match the wood stain.
  1. Ivory

    • Ivory is a contrasting color with hickory and is not as stark as white. If you have a smaller room, this color is ideal as it will give a slight hint of color to the walls without closing in the space. The warm tones of the ivory work well with either hickory wood flooring or furniture. Because this color is light, it will allow the color of the wood to take center stage and become the focal point of the room.

    Beige

    • To add more color to the walls, beige or tan also works well with hickory. These light browns are considered complementary to the hickory stain and draw from the brown tones of the wood. Painting all the walls in a room this color may be overwhelming with hickory wood flooring as the tones are very similar. To avoid this, choose one accent wall and paint it ivory, which will open up the room and prevent too much tone-on-tone coloration in the room.

    Gold and Yellow

    • Gold is a very warm color that provides enough of a contrast with the hickory wood to make the wall color stand out. Yellows also work but must be very rich in color and warm. Avoid pastels that may have a blue undertone to the color as this moves them into the cool color group. Gold and yellow will help add warmth to the space and can be used for an elegant touch to a room, particularly if this color is set off with ivory draperies.

    Bolder Colors

    • Contrasting colors will also go well with hickory flooring. If the hickory wood has a yellow undertone to the brown, choose blue to contrast with the flooring. If the wood has a reddish undertone, green would be the contrasting color. Avoid going overly dramatic by painting all of the walls in a dark tone. Instead, choose one wall to contain this bold color, and paint the remainder ivory, which will help keep the room warm without closing it in with dark color.