Wood Switch Plate Buyer's Guide: Woods, Finishes, Screws and Sizes

I get a lot of the same questions before people order wood switch plates, so I put the answers in one video. It's just under ten minutes and covers every wood I offer, how to match your room, what the plates are made of, finishing, screws, grain and corners, sizes, combination and blank plates, and whether wood belongs in a kitchen or bathroom. Use the chapters below to jump to the part you need.

Choosing a Wood

• 0:00 Every standard wood, light to dark. A side-by-side run through the standard woods in order of tone.
• 1:20 Specialty and exotic woods. The less common options for when you want something different.
• 2:54 Matching cabinets and trim. How to pick a wood that works with what's already in the room.
• 3:36 Will it look like the photo? What to expect from natural wood compared to the listing photos.

For more on individual woods, my species guide and the room-by-room guide go deeper.

Materials and Finishing

• 4:12 What the plates are made of.
• 4:57 Stain or paint it yourself?

Screws, Grain and Corners

• 5:50 Screw colors and lengths. My screw length guide has the details on picking a length.
• 6:37 Grain direction and corners.

Sizes and Configurations

• 7:02 Jumbo and custom sizes.
• 7:52 Combination plates. If you're not sure which openings you need, see toggle, Decora or duplex and what a gang is.
• 8:39 Blank plates.

Kitchens and Bathrooms

9:10 closes with whether wood works in kitchens and bathrooms. For keeping plates looking good in those rooms, see how to clean wood switch plates.

If your switch or outlet sits out from the wall, check whether you need a backing plate; they come in 1 to 6 gang. When you're ready, the full range is on the switch plates page and in my VARØ Industries Etsy shop, and switchplates.info covers sizing, wood types and fit.

More short how-tos on the VARØ Industries YouTube channel.