What Furniture Goes With Dark Wood Floors?

What furniture goes with dark wood floors - Calgary Interiors

What Furniture Goes With Dark Wood Floors?

When it comes to interior decorating or design, one of the most important things is creating a balance. This can be a balance of shapes, textures, or colours. One of the things that you will need to consider balancing is the colour of your furniture with the colour of your existing flooring or wall paint colours. For the purpose of this article, we will be discussing what to do when you have a space that has dark wood floors.

Read on for some tips on choosing the best furniture to accent your space when it has dark wood flooring. 

Light Furniture

Whether you are planning to buy wooden furniture or are working with softer, upholstered furniture, the general rule of thumb when you have dark floors is that you need to choose furniture colours that are lighter than your floor colour. This serves to brighten up the space and add more contrast and visual interest. Of course, the exact colours that work with your dark wood flooring will depend upon the kind of wooden flooring that you have in your space. For instance, if you have extremely dark wood floors, then you have more lighter colour options to work with. An example of some light colours that would work with a dark driftwood grey floor are shades of cool creams and other shades of grey lighter than that of the floors themselves. You could also use light wood furniture so there is still contrast between your dark wood floor.

WHAT FURNITURE GOES WITH DARK WOOD FLOORS - Calgary Interiors
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Subtle Shade Differences

Another design tip to keep in mind is that you can look at the colour of the floors themselves and pull from them with the colour choices you make for your furniture. This is more subtle than creating a big contrast between your floor and furniture, for instance. You want to stay away from using the exact same colour of the floors on your furniture, but instead, you can take that colour and find furniture that is a few shades lighter. This will add depth to the room, but will still tie the space together. It is a good method for homeowners who are not very flashy and do not want anything too bold or stark.

WHAT FURNITURE GOES WITH DARK WOOD FLOORS - Calgary Interiors Calgary

Partial Match

You can also work with a partial match when choosing or updating your furniture. What does this mean? This entails taking a look at the colour and wood tones and also the type of wood that you are using in your floors. You can then implement this same wood colour into part of the furniture you are placing in the room. This can help to make things appear more cohesive. An example of this is choosing a sofa with wooden legs that match the colour of the flooring in your space. However, you will want to be careful that you do not opt for all wood furniture pieces that matches your floors, because this can backfire. It will not provide enough contrast or visual interest to make your room look put together. 

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Stark Contrast

Last, but not least, is one of the boldest design options for matching furniture to darker wood floors. This will not be the chosen option for everyone, as many homeowners may prefer one of the more subtle approaches. Lighter colours are key to brighten up rooms with dark floors or dark walls. You can also go very light with your furniture colour choices, as well as decor, which will be more of an intense contrast within the room. The easiest way to do this is to inject a lot of white into the space through white furniture, throw pillows and decor colours. Look at the undertones of your floors and match the undertones of your white furniture to these. Cool floors should have cool toned furniture, and warm toned floors need warm furniture. 

WHAT FURNITURE GOES WITH DARK WOOD FLOORS - Calgary Interiors

Area rugs

Adding an area rug is a great way to add contrast between your dark hardwood floors and even dark coloured walls. If your room is already feeling like a dark space, try finding a lighter shade or neutral area rug to lighten up the space. An area rug can also help to define a space, especially in an open floor plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

What colors go well with dark wood floors?

If you have dark wood flooring and are trying to paint your walls or choose furniture and decor to fill the space, you should opt for lighter colours to accent the darker tones of the wood. This can help to lighten and brighten the room, because otherwise, it can end up looking too dark. White and other light colours can be a great choice for contrast within the entire room or the home as a whole. 

Should furniture be darker or lighter than the floor?

The colour of the furniture for your space can depend on the colour of the floor. For instance, if your flooring is very light, you may want to opt for furniture in shades darker than the flooring, and then vice versa if you have dark wooden flooring. In general, the idea is to go with darker furniture on light flooring, and light furniture on dark flooring. The reason for this is to create contrast in your home so that the room does not look flat with the same shades of colour. Otherwise, they may fade into each other.

What color couch goes best with dark wood floors?

If you have dark flooring in your living room, you should opt for a couch that is painted or upholstered in a colour that will create contrast. The general rule of thumb is to choose a light colour when you are working with dark colours on the walls or floors. A great colour option for your couch to contrast your dark wood flooring is the colour white. This can be a sharp contrast, depending upon how dark the floors are, though–another rule of thumb is that you should choose a colour that is a few shades lighter than your floor colour.

How do you brighten a room with dark wood floors?

When your room or home has dark wood flooring, this can be a very striking look. However, it can also be too much if you do not brighten or provide contrast within the space properly. One of the easiest ways to brighten up a room that does have dark floors is to choose light colours for the walls. If you colour the walls with dark shades and also have dark floors, it can make the space feel smaller and more closed off. 

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