I think it depends upon what the mahogany looks like with the current semi-opaque finish removed. My stairs are mahogany and once we stripped them we decided that no stain was needed, just a protective finish. They are a medium tone slightly less orange than the Michael Taylor piece with no stain at all. If not, I would go no darker than light walnut or special walnut. The 1st dibs piece looks nice, but to me it looks like newer furniture with vintage hardware on it in that finish--to me it has lost something. I tend to be a purist of sorts though, and I think this piece, much like Heywood Wakefield, puts its best foot forward in the original finishes, even if refinished to duplicate the original.

I went to Fortunoff tonight and found crystal lamps I liked but they were not in stock. The lamp I went there for had a nice cream shade (was off-white with a touch of yellow that would have been perfect if the shape was not so big and square in person)but the lamp itself looked too bulky. So I bought three other crystal lamps home with white shades in different styles that I was not in love but were in stock but thought I would try them out for color and size. The two big ones were too bulky just like I thought they would be despite being crystal and the lamps shades were too white. One of them had a chrome base that I did not like near my headboard or Ivory comforter. The small 22" high crystal lamp I loved but it was too small for my junior chest next to my bed and if I used it on the night stand, then I can not find a floor lamp to be that size and I found out that I really like lamps about the same height on both sides of my bed. I tried the lamp on my double dresser but there is not much room on both sides of the mirror and it made the dresser look too crowded. I decided to try it out in my storage/exercise room and it looks wonderful in that room. I am going to buy another one at 60% off since it came to less than $60 a piece and it is what that room needed so now I can return my friend's table lamps I had in that room. It only has a 60 watt bulb but it seems to work in that room due to the white Shangri-la on the windows and the mirrored doors and the small size fits perfectly on top of my big speakers on my two door file cabinets in that room that hold personal papers. I hate the big speakers and I wish I could buy a new stereo set but I have to many other expenses so at least they look good with the lamps on them. The style of the lamp I am keeping was what one of the lamps I wanted looked like but was the 28" height I wanted with a 150 watt bulb. It was out of stock and I would have to order it and then I can't find a floor lamp that would be that height on the other side of my bed. It would be too tall on the Junior chest at 32.5" + 28" 60.5" tall while my headboard is 60" tall. I seem to like the lamps a little less in height than my headboard in my room I am finding out. I would then need a tall floor lamp on the other side or a wall lamp too high up for my reading in bed to read the switch. Restoration Hardware also has a lamp I like but now I wonder if it will be too tall at 31.5" high based on my sample of lamps today and I would have to get the expensive matching floor lamp that I can see a lot of silver come through the glass in the pictures so I am not sure in person that would make me happy and the store is a farther away trip. I found I did not like having lamps that were more than a 1" height difference. I also like a white wall type of lamp but my two friends do not want to install it for me and feel I should stick with lamps I can move around in case I have to move my bed. It comes with no shade or a shade I do not like. I am finding out bright white near my bed does not look that great probably because nothing is white in my bedroom but the doors and ceiling and trim. I would have to add white decorative pillows to my bed to make a white shade go better. I could get a wall brass plate with an extendable arm but again I am not handy and I am thinking I will stay with the table lamps despite the room it is taking up room on my table. I am finding out that I really love the two chains on my two lamps in my bedroom. I like the 60 watt bulbs they take making each lamp 120 watts. I like the way both are around the same height. I like the rich satin brass color. I like how the top of the lamp's brass knob does not get hot since the bulbs are on the sides. The lamps I bought today that had 150 3-way bulbs got so hot on the top connector crystal piece. But I wish the shades were less wide and less gold. I am not liking silver near my headboard that is bringing out a grayish color instead of the creamy color my brass lamps are bring out. I did love the pure crystal against my headboard when the silver was hidden so if there were too floor lamps that were all crystal with not much silver showing and were dainty with off-white/eggshell shades, I would prefer this but so far I am not finding anything like this but in very expensive prices over $400 a piece. I either may go take a look at the Restoration Hardware lamps or I may work with what I have and just know that my honeycomb blinds already make the room not pure shabby chic but close (and thanks to all of you, I now like the color of my blinds in my bedroom) and the satin brass is rich looking and pretty. I can always get a satin brass decorative rod to put some sheers on. I think I just need different lamp shades but even with the ones I have, it is not a bad look. I guess nothing is perfect in life and I wish now I just bought two Junior Chests (equivalent to bachelor chests that are oversized night stands) so I could have lamps match on both sides but I wanted more drawer space so I bought the chest of drawers and I was kind of stuck with the little Iron table that I had already bought from the store that sold me the damaged Stanley Furniture that I returned. So I could go with crystal and have the lamps different size heights or I could go with what I have and get less wide shades in a less golden color or keep what I have and get back to work. :) I'll see if I can send in some pictures I took when I have more time. Maybe I just need cream or eggshell or off-white shades similar to what I have now. Square shades looked terrible in my bedroom I found out but the tiny square shade in white looks wonderful in my spare room and so does the silver and crystal colors. If I can't find anything, I will live with my ivory shade that comes across golden and darker than I imagined it. It is padded, made well, and gives a nice glow but I still think a little bit lighter cream would look nicer in my bedroom. The shade does match the lamps very well. I have more to say but I must get some sleep. I really love my bedroom in how it is so peaceful to sleep in.

Snookums I agree: Everything does not go with everything, and the bathrooms pictured do have to be considered in context of the adjacent rooms. And if I recall, all of these bathrooms were complementary to the adjacent rooms in terms of color, wallpaper or window treatments, and architectural style. The blue bathroom in particular was a Jack and Jill between two bedrooms, and it coordinated very well with both. But one bedroom was 1960s French Provincial and the other bedroom (and much of the house) was 1960s Asian Moderne. (This was one of the most intact and beautifully furnished time capsule houses I've ever been in, the owner was around 100 yo when she died, I think). Anyway, the bathroom coordinated with both (even though it is unapologetically blue instead of neutral). But since this post started about Vanities in particular, lets look at that: One bedroom is furnished in French Provincial with a painted sort of grey blue patina finish, and has French looking curly hardware and such. One bedroom is furnished in Asian Modern, in blonde wood and little oval recessed pulls. So if you are redoing this vanity to coordinate with furniture, which one? While the rooms coordinate as a "whole" within the house, I don't think you could really swap any of the case pieces from one to the other bedroom. The notion that the vanity is built in and looks like "generic cabinet" and not like a freestanding furniture style at all means it can bridge both rooms. Mtn: maybe the examples are far afield from what a lot of people are doing now, since furniture vanities are a trend (not a fad but a trend), but my idea is that technically a vanity, if it coordinates in some plain fashion with the House, rather than a particular piece of furniture, it does not need to Match Anything to coordinate with Almost Anything. The examples you pictured definitely do NOT belong in adjacent rooms. But, take down the wallpaper paint the vanity the color of the walls in the bedroom and put different hardware on the vanity, and it Would. The vanity does not have to be a combination of Queen Anne and Chippendale just because that's what the current bedroom furniture is--if it is treated as a cabinet and not a piece of furniture. The problem with the two rooms you show is that each is treated as a "theme". I am not even sold that the bedroom is an actual bedroom but is a catalog shot to show a "Bedroom Set" for some furniture company. But I do see this sort of adjacency a lot. Look at real estate in areas where full-on decorating is very popular. Sometimes you can say "This room is original; this room was redone around 1985; this room was done in 2000; they just freshened this room up to put the house on the market this year". Each room has a distinct and discordant "theme". For anybody who lives in this area look at Cherry Hill, Penn Valley, Elkins Park, Rydal, on occasion and you will see time capsule houses and time capsule by room on a pretty regular basis.

I know this sounds odd, but I would remove the final pointy ends from the posts on the bed, as on your first inspiration photo. To me it looks very odd. I would definitely do simple curtain panels reaching to the floor and also a rug to give some softness to this room with so much wood. Perhaps very light blue walls with a green and cream bedspread and cream curtains.