I was talking to my good friend and Ipe decking expert George Guy from East Teak yesterday and we were discussing how we’ve had some recent conversations with potential customers who were insistent about us pulling “color matched” boards of Ipe (aka Brazilian Walnut or iron wood) in their orders. I decided that I’d cover this topic in a blog post so our prospective customers understand what Ipe looks like when it is installed.
There are species that are more even in color, such as Garapa or Massaranduba, but Ipe is not one of them! On the contrary, part of the beauty of Ipe is that it contains lights, darks, reds and olives. The contrast is awesome when seen as a whole deck, and an Ipe deck should NOT look plastic! These color variances are muffled a bit with a darker stain such as Ipe Oil or Woodrich Brand Brown Sugar color (shown in photos below), but I want to set the potential Ipe buyer’s expectation that Ipe does not have a consistent even color. George sent me some photos of a recent client Ipe deck project where the customer raved about how pretty the color variation is. This is about the truest indication of color and grain mix that I can show you…see for yourself! My compliments to the builder, well done!
There are species that are more even in color, such as Garapa or Massaranduba, but Ipe is not one of them! On the contrary, part of the beauty of Ipe is that it contains lights, darks, reds and olives. The contrast is awesome when seen as a whole deck, and an Ipe deck should NOT look plastic! These color variances are muffled a bit with a darker stain such as Ipe Oil or Woodrich Brand Brown Sugar color (shown in photos below), but I want to set the potential Ipe buyer’s expectation that Ipe does not have a consistent even color. George sent me some photos of a recent client Ipe deck project where the customer raved about how pretty the color variation is. This is about the truest indication of color and grain mix that I can show you…see for yourself! My compliments to the builder, well done!