Replies

1. 
   SCFrankland | Apr 25, 2004 04:59am | #1

   I would go with all cherry. Cherry will be a bit of a contrast to the other wise white (I am guessing you are install white fixtures) fixtures. Maple will tend to make the room look a little to much like funny farm. Don't ask but I will say this my wife colour palate consists of white and off white.

   Scott C. Frankland

   Scott's WOODWORKING Website

   "He who has the most tools may not win the race of life but he will sure make his wife look like a good catch when she goes to move on."

1. 
   CharlieD | Apr 25, 2004 06:25am | #2

   I agree with Scott; seems like all cherry will match the period better, although I think I have that impression b/c cherry is closer to the look of mahogany...

   Charlie

   I tell you, we are here to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. --K Vonnegut

2. 
   jonsherryl | Apr 25, 2004 05:45pm | #3

   Well Frenchy, despite the fact that French fixtures strike me as downright unpatriotic at the moment...cherry would be your best choice for the woodwork. As was mentioned earlier, the darker color would be more in keeping with the period style...but function is also important. A small bathroom can get to be a pretty moist place and cherry is far more resistant to decay fungi (mildew) than is maple.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 4/25/2004 11:58 am ET by Jon Arno

1. 
   fdampier5 | Apr 25, 2004 06:58pm | #4

   Jon,

     Don't forget we owe our very existance to the French.. without their intervention and participation by fighting against the British, George Washington et al would be strung up as traitors to the crown..

     You do make a good point about cherry and rot resistance although it would have to be a pretty skuzzy bathroom to decay.  (aside from a coat of varnish  or something)

     My natural inclination is towards cherry becuase of it's wonderful patina as it ages.. Yet there seem to be several reasons not to..

1. 
   jonsherryl | Apr 25, 2004 07:15pm | #5

   Frenchy, I can think of only a couple of negatives with respect to using cherry: Dark colors tend to make small spaces seem smaller...and also, cherry is more expensive than maple...but since you're probably getting it for somewhere around a nickel a board foot, cost shouldn't matter much.

   Another positive of cherry is that it is substantially more stable than is maple. Even if the humidity in this bathroom is kept low enough to prevent the wood from reaching the 20%MC required for mold metabolism, if the humidity fluctuates a lot (as it doubtless will with hot and cold running water, damp towels, etc), maple will tend to expand and contract (distort, buckle and/or show gaps) much more than cherry.

1. 
   Kevin | Apr 26, 2004 12:11am | #6

   Jon makes an excellent point about dark colors making a small room seem smaller. Perhaps the scenario using the Maple paneling with Cherry trim would be a good compromise that would still help tie in with the period coloration.

   The Independent Voter.com

   "Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud" - Sophocles.

3. 
   jako17 | Apr 26, 2004 12:54am | #7

   For  my two cents worth I would go with all cherry narrow bead board as most of the traditional bathrooms I have seen were finished that way .Secondly panelling gives more horizontal surfaces to collect dust and talc.Good servants are hard to find these days and they all seem to leave smutz in the corners

1. 
   fdampier5 | Apr 27, 2004 02:32am | #8

   Since I would have to fabricate those beadboard pieces myself out of raw stock  I do believe that you are asking too much of me..

     Regarding the servant issue,  I find that leaving a smooth patina of dust on surfaces except the  once a year cleaning to give a dramatic element of whimsy to what might otherwise be considered overly stuffy..

     SWMBO tends to agree on this point..

4. 
   DougF | Apr 27, 2004 05:09pm | #9

   Frenchy,

   I think I would frame and panel the walls using wide cherry rails and styles with the maple panel inserts.  Letting the maple tone to the deeper ambers would compliment the cherry very well as would the other end of the spectrum of keeping it as white as possible.  The size of the room is such that I think you would want to avoid all of the walls in cherry's due to the deep color.  Reds are a very hot color and will add to the closed-in feeling.  I think the suggestion of bead board would really look classy if you can find someone to mill the maple.  The other factor in this equation is the floor.  These two elements need to work together.   I can't imagine that moisture is a problem since this bathroom probably does not contain a shower.

   Doug

1. 
   fdampier5 | Apr 27, 2004 07:24pm | #10

   While I can mill beadboard myself, the idea of doing so doesn't really excite me, especially since beadboard is among my least favorite treatments... only slightly ahead of painted sheetrock..

     I do agree totally with your observation regarding the lighter color hard maple.  however the hard maple that I have for panels is still several months away from being dry enought to use.  I do have some 4/4 fiddleback maple which is dry.  But that will leave thicker walls (my panel material will mill out at 2/4 or 1/2 inch thick and I believe that the little extra  space afforded by that treatment  is clearly called for in this situation).

    what do you think?

1. 
   DougF | Apr 27, 2004 11:48pm | #11

   Well, as much as I like fiddleback, I think the figutred maple with fight the cherry unless the panels are rather small.  I think this something I would run some test panels on to see how it works.  I hope you'll some pics when you are finished.

5. 
   DWRead | Apr 29, 2004 06:03pm | #12

   I just looked at a picture in an unfinished cherry frame. The framer said that cherry darkens, and it has--a *lot* since it was framed in the late 1980s.

   Janet

1. 
   fdampier5 | May 01, 2004 01:54am | #13

   Out of consideration of the fact that this is a small bathroom with no natural light I decided to do the room in Fiddleback maple.  (fiddle back maple is the extremely pretty maple that you see on very fine violins.. I have access to a source of it at a modest  (actually a too cheap of a price to pass up..)

     Thus I'll do the room, both panels and rails and styles in fiddle back maple and hope that it's light color brightens up what could otherwise be considered a too dark room.