What Color Carpet Goes With Mahogany Wood?

Warm Neutrals

• Because mahogany’s natural color is warm, it works with most warm neutral carpet colors. Light-colored warm neutrals include ivory, warm beige, buttery cream and gold-based champagne. For lower-maintenance carpets in medium neutral colors, consider latte, antique gold, toasty tan or toffee.

  Dark warm neutrals ranging from milk chocolate to espresso brown also harmonize with mahogany, especially mahogany woodwork and trim. If you’re mixing them with mahogany furniture, don’t use colors of equal intensity. Even though the wood color likely contains more red than the carpet, the furniture will seem to disappear against the floor.

Cool Neutrals

• Cool neutral carpets in light to medium colors do nothing to enhance the warm color of the wood. Avoid mixing mahogany with carpet in cool beige, taupe or any light to medium shade of gray, unless you’re tying the combination together with a patterned upholstery fabric or wallpaper.

  Though they’re used less for carpet than light and medium colors, dark neutrals with cool tones do work well with mahogany wood. They look especially good with mahogany furniture in traditional styles, which frequently feature inlaid borders of ebony. Charcoal, black-brown and deep gray-brown carpets pop the inlay while contrasting with the rest of the piece.

Warm Colors

• As with warm neutrals, most warm colors go well with mahogany. Warm pinks and many warm reds look rich against the wood. Take a carpet sample home if you’re considering reds with brown or orange undertones, such as rust, brick or cinnamon, because the color might blend too well with the wood. If the color looks too close, consider an orange-pink instead. Coral carpet, from light to dark, works well with mahogany.

  Nearly all shades of orange, from apricot to pumpkin, complement the mahogany wood color. From lemon to honey, yellows carpets go well, too. Yellow-greens, plums and red-based violets look beautiful with mahogany, but they’re bold choices for the floor; make sure you can live with them for the life of the carpet.

Cool Colors

• Though many cool neutral colors don’t flatter mahogany, pairing cool colors with the warm wood frequently enhances both. Though lilac, lavender and cool violet aren’t typical carpet colors for living spaces, they’re lovely mixed with mahogany in bedroom applications.

  From light to dark, most blue, blue-green and green carpets complement the reddish wood. Gray-greens are the exceptions. Take silvery sage, for example. The wood makes the carpet color look flat and dull, and the carpet color does nothing to enhance the wood. Gray-blues, on the other hand, go well with mahogany.