I love wood too -- my wood dining table, our wood floors, our wood furniture. If you want to see the wood without a cloth, you can do it -- but always use a hard, heat-resistant placemat not just under regular dinner plates but under other items on the table (and even under trivets if you put a hot dish on a trivet; still have a mat under the trivet as well).
Wood hates heat, and a hot dinner plate can cause those dreaded white "heat marks" that will stay on the wood. If the plate is moist at all when you set it down, that makes it worse because wood hates moisture as much as it hates heat. Imagine rings from drinking glasses on the wood. Gross.
Invest in a set, or a couple of sets, of hard, heat-resistant placemats with matching coasters. They are not cheap but are well worth the money and as a bonus, can look terrific themselves. We have multiple sets I love. Remember these are the hard ones that are about a quarter inch thick and they could cost $30 or more per set but will last ages and ages and just wipe clean. Plastic, straw or fabric placemats won't protect as well from heat and fabric or straw mats won't protect from moisture. Enjoy your table!