Last month we discussed current design trends.
Now we follow up with a pertinent design question, “What wall colors work best with my hardwood floors?”
We’ll answer this by looking at popular flooring choices, including light and dark hardwood, white oak, and hickory.
Pro tip: Pick a few paint colors then buy sample cans to paint various sections of your walls. Before you commit, notice how the color changes in hue or contrast depending on the light and time of day—because the color may change significantly!
Light Hardwood
The traditional take on light hardwood is to go with a lighter color wall like white, cream, or soft gray. For those of us who need and desire a bright space, then complementing the floor with a light tone makes a lot of sense.
However, the trend in 2021 is moving away from light walls, so you don’t have to feel constrained by the status quo. Pairing light hardwood with colors other than white or cream can certainly work well and provide a good deal of warmth. If your furniture and feeling are one of Scandinavian design, then a soft gray is a perfect choice.
When making wall color choices, you always want to take note of your floors’ undertones, and light hardwood flooring is no exception. For instance, if you choose a gray paint with brown or greige, then you will want to pair it with a warmer floor. If you are drawn to gray paint with blue undertones, then you want to select a cooler floor.
Jutland, a European White Oak from our Longhouse Plank collection, is a great example of a soft, light floor tone that can be paired with gray paint.
Dark Hardwood
Dark flooring is a favorite choice today. Depending on the furniture and style of the room, it can achieve a traditional or a very contemporary look.
With dark hardwood flooring, you want to go lighter with wall color in order to complement the floor. Lighter shades will offer great contrast and really highlight your dynamic floor.
While some folks choose white and cream, we suggest you consider 2021’s trend of earthy shades, such as green or blue. These soft colors will look great against the dark hardwood and serve to brighten up the space.
Featured above, Mantel is a darker engineered floor with smooth-face planks. Warm earth tones are an appropriate complement to its authentic, natural wood grain.
Natural White Oak
White oak is a popular floor, and a good deal of our product lines are European white oak.
Given the lightness of white oak, you really want to go darker to deliver appropriate contrast. The typical choices are charcoal or pastel. We like charcoal for its warmth, but we also know that granny-chic is in style for 2021, so certainly pastels (like light blue and mauve) are an appropriate option to pair with white oak. These soft wall colors will make the room bright, just like Granny would want it.
Our traditional-looking European white oak, Parcel, is a beautiful floor that can be complemented nicely with charcoal or pastels.
Hickory
In addition to granny-chic, green is also trending right now. We see it in living spaces and even on kitchen cabinets.
We talked about one of our favorite greens last month: sage. Sage and other subtle greens go particularly well with hickory flooring. Pay attention to the undertones and choose grays or blues to avoid greens which could end up looking too dark when painted.
In our Ponderosa collection, we offer Alamosa: an attractive hickory floor. Its rich dark color serves as a rich complement to subtle green wall colors.
Always here to help.
We know how important it is to get your home interior design just right.
If we didn’t cover the type of flooring you’re interested in pairing with new wall colors, please get in touch by our website or by phone, 877.215.1831.