Dark wood flooring can make lighter wood furniture really stand out, whilst light wood flooring provides the perfect balance for darker furniture pieces. In fact, when you try to match wood shades in the home, if it isn't a perfect match it just looks like you've unintentionally failed.
Light furniture.
Light wood furniture on a dark wood floor offers a striking look. The best choices usually are furniture that is just a few shades lighter in color than the floor. Too much of a contrast will leave the room feeling stark.
Pairing lighter walls with the dark wood elements helps keep the room balanced overall. Crisp white walls work well with darker woods, but you can go with other light shades, such as light grey or cream. Opt for a light-colored break between dark wood floors and dark wood furniture with a light-colored area rug.
The most harmonious setting is to combine the warmth of dark floors with much lighter walls and furniture. Dark floors, white walls make a great combination. For example, you can consider weathered white walls for every black or grayish floor, or beige furniture for warmer floor nuances, such as maple and cherry.
If you have dark flooring, consider creating a cosy effect with a dark wall colour. Choose shades from deep indigo, emerald, slate grey or black and choose light or medium wood accents, warm metallics and neutral textures for an intimate room, perfect for relaxing in the evening.
Light Walls
The best way to compliment your dark floors is with light colored walls. The color contrast will offset your flooring and give you a nice balance of light and dark. Not only that, but the lighter color will cause more light to bounce around your room making it naturally brighter, and feel larger.
Dark floors will not automatically make your room look smaller. While overloading a small space with dark colors will absorb light and make the space feel even smaller, dark floors can actually help to open a space up, if done correctly.
So, if you've got wooden floors and want to change their appearance and you want to know how to lighten wood stain, fear not. Dark, stained wooden floors can be lightened to give your home an exciting new look rather than having a darker color within your home.
A natural look: Dark hardwood brings out the richness of the wood's grain, enhancing its natural look and giving your home a visually stunning appeal. Higher property value: While both light and dark hardwood flooring can give your home a higher market value, darker grain is known to lend itself to higher rewards.
To Wrap Things Up
Among the options we saw, white, tan, gray, blue, and green walls all work well if you have brown floors. When it comes to designing brown flooring, try to keep your walls lighter in color to make your room feel open and inviting.
Mixing a dark wood (like ebony) with a light wood (like lime) will always look chic and intentional.” If you're starting with a wood floor and are adding new wood tones (a table, chairs, etc.), consider using a rug to act as a buffer.
To make dark wood lighter, wipe away any dust on the wood. Spread a thin coat of 2-part wood bleach solution across the wood surface and let it sit for 30 mins. After that, use a white vinegar solution to neutralize the wood bleach before wiping it clean with a wet cloth.
And should the wood floors be lighter or darker than the cabinets? Decorators all agree on the answer. Wood floors can be lighter or darker than the cabinets, as long as the colors complement each other. The best way to do this is to start your project by picking 2 complementary colors and an accent color.
While mixing wood tones is perfectly acceptable—and in fact, we encourage it—it always helps to pick a dominant wood tone as a starting point to help you choose other pieces to bring in the room.
Dark brown hardwood floors in particular never seem to go out of fashion, they are always trendy and still in style. There's something about the contrast between dark wood floors and bright, light walls, white kitchen cabinets, furnishing etc. that epitomize a sophisticated and upmarket style.
White walls look great with just about any color wood furniture. But they look really great when the wood furniture is dark enough to create a stark contrast. Creating contrast is also a great way to mix different wood tones. If your floors are light, dark wood furniture will stand out and visa versa (Ref: 3.)
Because lighter makes your space look larger, natural can be a great option for smaller homes and condos/co-ops and town houses, especially those with less light. On the other hand, if your floors have a lot of imperfections or stains, a darker stain may make your floors look better.
Good news, they're not. Both light colors and wider planks have been the hardwood styles of choice with designers and architects for years, however 2020 forecasters predict that this will be THE hot look in flooring for consumers.
Dark-colored floors can make rooms seem darker and smaller. If a room doesn't receive a lot of natural light, a dark floor can make it appear gloomy and uninviting. When space is limited, as it often is in condos and apartments, dark floors can give the illusion of even less space.
Mix together one part water and two parts white latex paint for the whitewash solution. If you want a heavier whitewash, use one part water to three parts paint. You can use a light gray paint, if you want a slightly darker color.
When you refinish your floors, you can change the color of your flooring. Most hardwood floors can be made darker, lighter, redder, or anywhere in between. If your flooring is solid hardwood, it can be sanded and refinished in a different stain for a different appearance.
Whitewashing hardwood floors costs $2 to $7 per square foot and requires sanding to remove the old finish and then applying a light wash and clear polyurethane topcoat instead of a darker stain.
Light color flooring tends to brighten up a space and make it feel larger.
Darker flooring offers an inviting feel and opens up a space. Whether you choose rich colours or softer dark colours, they both have their advantages when it comes to expanding the appearance of a room.
A light-colored flooring such as light oak or a light-colored carpet will make the room appear brighter and more open. The same applies to the ceiling—use a light color or white to "open up" the space above. Increase the appearance of the size of the room by adding wall mirrors.