Above you see examples of the dark, below are the pieces that are stained in a red mahogany. This picture was taken with a flash, so you can see them as they would look in a very bright light.
If you want your furniture to match in color exactly, you should buy a set, that's the only way you can be sure that the colors will be the same. Below are a dresser and a vanity. As you can see, they are identical in style and should be identical in color, but obviously they're not. One is more like a dark, ripe Bing cherry.
The following pictures show how various pieces work together.
Next, a Georgian look.
Below, the same pieces but with an added hope chest, VN131, at the foot of the bed. The chest has a lighter mahogany stain, but still blends in nicely.
A grouping like the one below gives a sort of Victorian country cottage feel, like staying at Grandma's.
Another version, with a dark mahogany dresser.
An important point to remember, if you're doing a period room, is that in real life the furniture didn't match. Furniture suites were something that didn't start to catch on til the late 1800's, and many people thought they were in poor taste anyway.
If you're working on a Victorian dollhouse, and would like to find out what was fashionable in home decor visit my Victorian Decorating site. If you're working on a house set in the early decades of the 20th century visit Early 20th Century Homes.
Below is another nice grouping. The black metal of the bed works well with the darker mahogany tones.
I've moved the vanity over to the brighter side of the space. It looks a little lighter here.
When arranging furniture, if you find you've got a piece that looks just a little too light in color compared to the rest of your furniture, place it back towards the shadowier part of the room. I've had pieces that I thought were too light or too red, but when I placed them in the right spot, they looked perfect. The armoire below can look light or dark depending on where it's placed.
The nightstand added below is also a darker shade. The nightstand is a fairly recent furniture invention. In Victorian days they didn't exist. If you wanted to place a candle handy by your bed, you'd set it on a chair, and if an invalid needed a table for water, medicines or reading material, a table would be brought over and placed by the bed. Some nurses had to provide their own bedside tables for patients.
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