Walnut Furniture

Put walnut furniture in a room and the room pulls inward. In daylight the grain reads as chocolate and honey, with a faint violet under it. By seven in the evening, under a warm lamp, it deepens toward espresso and everything around it seems to lower its voice. That shift is why walnut sits near the center of the luxury modern furniture AURA carries.

This page gathers the walnut pieces in one place: sideboards, side tables, dining tables, console tables, coffee tables, beds and desks, along with dining chairs, dressers, nightstands, benches and bookcases. Think of it as the walnut wing of our wider dark wood furniture collection, the same depth of color narrowed to one species and the finishes named after it.

Mid century walnut furniture never really left

Walnut was the wood of the 1950s and 60s living room, and the long, low walnut sideboard on tapered legs is still the silhouette most people picture. After a decade of gray floors and pale oak, rooms wanted something with shadow in it again. Many pieces here borrow that line, which is why they sit easily beside our mid century modern furniture without turning the room into a period set. The same low, long proportions suit a dark walnut coffee table, where a wide top shows more grain than any other piece in the living room.

The largest group on this page lives in the bathroom. James Martin and Wyndham vanities come in finishes called Mid-Century Walnut, Dark Walnut, Toasted Walnut and Walnut Whisper, in single and double widths from 20 to 84 inches. A walnut vanity warms a bathroom full of white tile and chrome in a way no painted cabinet can. To compare walnut against every other finish and size, browse our full range of luxury bathroom vanities.

Walnut wood furniture, and what sits under the finish

Is walnut a hardwood?

Yes. Black walnut is a North American hardwood with a fine, mostly straight grain, stable and easy to work. Is walnut a good wood for furniture? One of the best. It is a little softer than oak, so a walnut dining table will take a dent from a dropped pan sooner, but it sands and refinishes well. The nuance most guides skip: walnut lightens in strong sun over the years, drifting toward a warmer, golden brown. Keep a dark piece out of direct afternoon light if you want it to stay dark.

Walnut veneer, solid walnut, or a walnut finish

Not everything here is solid walnut. A few titles do say solid walnut, including a pair of rectangular dining tables and a tall open bookcase. Ambella Home lists walnut veneer on an end table and walnut burl on a sideboard and a chest. Greenington builds in solid bamboo finished in Black Walnut. Home Trends Direct works in acacia and mango, with live edge acacia stained to a walnut tone. The common mistake is reading the word walnut and assuming the species. Check each listing for the build before you buy.

Walnut vs oak

Oak is lighter and more open in the grain, and it reads casual in daylight. Walnut is darker and quieter, and it holds a room together once the lamps are on. Is walnut more expensive than oak? As solid lumber, usually yes. It grows slowly and yields less clear board, so it usually costs more than oak of the same build. A walnut finish over acacia or bamboo is a different purchase.

Dark walnut and black walnut furniture, room by room

A walnut furniture living room needs one light surface

A walnut coffee table is heavy to the eye. Keep the sofa or rug lighter, or lift the table on a black metal base so the floor runs underneath. The practical rule: let one large walnut piece anchor each room, and keep other wood within a shade of it or clearly apart. Two walnuts that almost match look like an accident. That goes double for a walnut side table parked a foot from the coffee table, where the eye compares the two at once.

Dark walnut bedroom furniture, morning and night

In a bedroom, dark walnut soaks up light. Perfect at eleven at night, heavier at seven in the morning in a north-facing room. A walnut bed frame dressed in pale linen, or a light wall behind a dark dresser, keeps the morning from feeling heavy.

Hallway and study

A walnut console table is often the first piece anyone sees in a house, and a hall rarely gets much light. Give it a lamp or a mirror, because walnut with nothing lighting it reads as a dark rectangle. A walnut desk reads as furniture rather than office equipment, which matters when it lives in a bedroom or a corner of the living room. The trade-off is dust: a dark top shows it by Thursday.

What colors go well with walnut furniture

Walnut and brass

Brass is walnut's oldest partner. Under lamplight the two warm each other, so brushed gold trim on a dark walnut vanity, or brass pulls on a walnut dresser, reads as one material family rather than two.

Stone, black metal and dark paint

White marble cools walnut and sharpens its edges. Black metal makes it look stricter and more modern. Walnut color furniture looks settled against deep green, ink blue or a warm plaster white, and muddy against cool gray, where the red in the grain goes flat. Pick the one dark note a room can hold, and let walnut be it.