How to Decide Between Light and Dark Hardwood

If you are trying to decide between light and dark hardwood floors, you are not alone. When we first redid the flooring in our home, we were unsure of what was going to be the best route. On one hand, I truly loved the look of darker hardwood flooring, but it wouldn’t look as good with the rest of the style of our home as light hardwood would. Although darker hardwood is more in style right now, this is something that may change in the future and we weren’t looking to sell anytime soon. Either way, I wanted to give you a rundown of some of the different things we learned when we were trying to decide between the two. The information I give you are things you need to think about before deciding on a final hardwood color.

How often are you willing to clean your floors?

Surprisingly, we found that darker hardwood is more difficult to keep looking clean. That means if you have a lot of kids and pets (which we have both), darker hardwood may not be the preferable option. Alternatively, if you keep up on cleaning and have your kiddos remove their shoes at the door, you may be able to keep it looking mostly clean. Darker hardwood also tends to show scratches more often, which is another important thing you have to consider.

How big is your space?

Darker colors tend to make a space look smaller, whereas lighter colors tend to open up a room. If you have a smaller space that you are covering with new flooring, it may be worth sticking to something lighter if you don’t have a big preference of dark over light.

How dark is your existing furniture?

Our furniture and wall colors looked better with lighter hardwood, which is why we had trouble going with the darker hardwood that we really wanted. The room was already quite dark, and I was worried that dark floors would make the room appear even darker than it already was. If you have no plans of replacing furniture/wall color, this is a consideration you need to make. Lighter hardwood just tends to go better with most furniture/wall colors, whereas darker hardwood is questionable.

How sunny is the room the flooring is going into?

We were putting our new hardwood floor in our kitchen/dining room area. It turns out that dark hardwood floors do a better job of absorbing (rather than repelling) sunlight. This means they are less likely than light hardwood floors to fade. If you are putting floors in a room that gets a lot of sunlight, the longevity of a good looking hardwood floor will be the lighter one.

Regardless of what you decide, both light and dark hardwood will look nice for years to come. We eventually decided on the dark hardwood. Although the practicalities need to be taken into account, the most important consideration is what YOU like the best. As long as you are prepared for the potential pitfalls of your decision, you can feel good about either choice.

Matt is a home decor blogger who enjoys helping families transform their home.