Most home designers operate with a particular style in mind: contemporary, traditional, rustic, coastal, and so forth. Too many distinct colours of wood start to look disjointed. Try to limit the number of different wood shades to just 2 or 3. It can work, particularly with traditional or classic styles, but it’s usually much more appealing to have the wood tones of your furniture be lighter than those of the floor (or vice versa). If your wood furniture is the same colour as the floor, chances are it’s not going to look as good as it could. Not so! As long as you follow one simple rule: You might think that wood furniture atop wood floors is too much wood. Rugs let you bend the rules a bit an area rug helps lighter furniture work in a room with dark floors, and vice versa. Now, to get a little more advanced, you can incorporate area rugs. It’s going to stand out in stark contrast against the floor.
You can certainly still include dark furniture with your light floor, but make sure the furniture is visually appealing.
Modern, Scandinavian style furniture with clean, simple lines works well to create a stylish, minimalist look. Think of pieces that can hold their own visually rather than blending in.Ĭonversely, if you’re working with a light-coloured wood floor, lighter furniture is a good fit. In this case, we’re not talking about “light” as in colour we’re talking about light as in Modern-style furniture with narrow legs and thin, clean lines.ĭark-coloured hardwood floors pair better with heavy, classic-style furniture with thick, shapely lines. Match dark wood floors with heavy, dark furniture and light wood floors with clean, bright furniture.ĭark wood floors are visually arresting they tend to swallow up furniture that’s too light. Here’s one of the biggest rules-of-thumb for creating harmony between your furniture and your flooring: Hardwood floors are very forgiving there aren’t a lot of furniture/floor combinations that are going to look bad.īut “not bad” isn’t the same as “perfect.” Light vs dark flooring There’s no perfect system for matching your furniture to your floors. How do you match furniture to hardwood floors? The manufacturer of your hardwood floors can recommend other finishing options as well.įor more about the technical side of hardwood floors, check out our comprehensive guide to wood flooring. Oil-based polyurethane finishes release gases into the air for a few days after they’re applied, so no one can stay in the house during that time.Ī water-based polyurethane finish is a more natural choice that’s a little easier to work with. Polyurethane finishes last a lot longer than many other options, but the application process is time-consuming. Wire brushing gives the wood a lovely texture, but it forms tiny grooves that can trap dirt.Ī polyurethane finish can help fill in some of those tiny grooves. Many wood floors feature a wire brushing finish.
You’ll have to refinish the floor every few years, though, as the oil will slowly soak into the wood. This finish helps protect the floor from dirt and light abuse. Oil-based finishes are increasingly popular. There are almost as many finish options as there are species of wood available. If you’re installing in a basement (or a climate that cycles between humid and dry seasons), engineered hardwood may be the way to go it’s highly resistant to the expansion and contraction cycle. The downside is that solid hardwood is susceptible to expansion and contraction due to moisture. On-site finishing seals cracks between the boards and results in a more polished, sleek look.
Solid hardwood is necessary if you’re going to have the floor finished on-site. One isn’t necessarily better than the other. Solid hardwood is exactly what you imagine: solid planks of wood.Įngineered hardwood consists of several layers of plywood laminated together with a layer of hardwood on top. Regardless of which species of wood you choose, you also have to choose between hardwood or engineered hardwood. If you’ve got pets (or rowdy kids), you might want a more durable wood. The downside, however, is that furniture or pets can scratch softwood floors. Softwood floors, like pine or cedar, are inexpensive options. Softwood comes from trees that grow quickly, which makes it more economical to produce. When it comes to the pricing of hardwood floors, the general rule is that the harder a wood is, the more expensive it is. Of course, appearance is important, but you also need to choose a type of wood that works for your lifestyle and your budget. There are hundreds of species of tree from which flooring can be made.
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