apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Bonnie, your room is absolutely beautiful. I love all the details. When we were figuring out floor stain colors, someone suggested a walnut stain and we loved the idea until we spread out a similar colored bedsheet on the floor up against the wall and we said no way...we went lighter.

I like a darker bottom to the fireplace. It "grounds" the whole fixture and makes it look more substantial.

Good luck. You have a gorgeous room to work with.

I love the floor color and the beams. I can't quite see what you mean about the fireplace.

It's a lovely room, but I definitely wouldn't stain the floor dark in your case; not if the walls are so dark.

What is the wood? Personally, I would paint the floor white, as well as the beams (sorry, I know that you just had them stripped).

White floors are very chic, and show up a lot in European design publications (Elle Decoration, both UK and French, Living Etc., Marie Claire Maison...). Not only would it look great with your modern furniture, but it would look particularly good with your white painted fireplace.

The base of the fireplace should stay natural; first of all, it looks better, and also the constant wear that it receives would readily damage a painted surface.

leave the beams as they are and try and match the floor stain with them.

What if you put some nice slate on your hearth? Or some vintage ceramic tiles in a colour to coordinate with your pea soup walls?

Fantastic room. I love the idea of dark beams. I think we spend the majority of our lives looking down and straight ahead. Acknowledging another plane takes the level of detail just one step further. Imagine if you rocked out a great light fixture....

I suppose if I were a clean modernist as you described your furnishings, I would paint the entire fireplace white. It would appear more punctuated.

I second those comments. Paint everything around the fireplace white and stain the beams to match the floor. That really is a beautiful room!

Dark beams would really make a statement. And yes, I would paint the entire fireplace white. The floor color doesn't pop the wall color or visa-versa. I think dark floors would be really cool. You could lighten things up with a mix of lighter wood accent furniture and a light neutral (cream, white, or coir) rug. Thanks for sharing your beautiful room!!

p.s. I've read that ceiling beams are bad feng shui; while I am not an adherent to the philosphy, I can see how the impression of something big, dark and heavy pressing down on one would create an uncomfortable feeling. That is why I recommend making them as light as possible...

What about whitewashing both the beams and floor? That would lighten them up, but preserve the grain and texture.

I'd stain the beams a medium color - it's the most compatible with the mid-century style. I'd stain the floors the same tone.

As far as your fireplace hearth (A threshold is what's under a door...) there's no reason at all it can't be a different material than your fireplace. If you really, really hate the material of the hearth and absolutely must change it, consider tiling it over in slate.

I like the color that the beams are now. I'd just use a natural stain color to bring out the glow in the wood. The floors could be a little darker than the beams but not much.

As for the fireplace, I am not bothered by the hearth of the fireplace. I like that it's dark and helps anchor it. A mantle piece would be nice though. Maybe a big chunky beam like the one in your ceiling.

Keeping a lighter floor will help that natural light spread across the floor and up the walls a bit.....even on the ceiling.

A darker floor will pretty much halt that light to just inside the doors. The room will look heavy and tired, IMO.

What a beautiful room! I do not think you should go dark. The walls are dark, and despite that big window, it does not look like a light-filled room.

Problem is... You're not ready to commit. You say you love your dark beams (which is pretty bad feng shui, but you love'em) and you want dark floors, but you don't want it to look dark... it's a contradiction and though sometimes this might be "interesting", most of the times it ends up looking "half-a**ed". Choose one and stick to it, light or dark or at the very least, do some research on real-world spaces similar to yours and THEN decide. In your picture the room already looks kind of gloomy, so half of the choice might've already been done for you.

I'll pipe in with a suggestion... Why don't you stain the floors dark, then compromise on the walls?

You say you love the green, so stay with it - "partially." Some examples:

Paint the topmost 12 inches or so a nice cream, and leave the rest green.

Reverse it - paint the walls cream, and the top strip green.

Use a...I think it's called the wainscoting approach: Leave the green about waist high, and paint the remaining walls cream. Then take strips of wood the same dark stain as you'll use for your floor (or in a shade to match the fireplace), and mold along the walls where the green meets the cream. And cream is just one example in all these...you could use several different colors. A light, burnished gold, pristine white, a very, very light silver/gray, etc.

Get creative with it and good luck!!!

Edit to above:

Whoops, I looked at the picture again and saw the windowsills were white. So I'd say stay with white for the wood strips.

And, I thought of another possibility for you - you can reverse the wainscoting approach, too. Instead of leaving the green waist high, try some white bead board that goes the same length...then leave the entire upper half green. That's my favorite pick so far. Whatever you decide, hope you enjoy!

Here's a living room very similar to yours:

http://www.livingetc.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4479

Note the light coloured floor...

If you were to make the floor dark, you would turn the room into a cave. I know, I *have* very dark floors. That is a "look", but not one that you are after. That is why dark floors are always paired with white (or almost-white) walls (in my case too). If you love the green, do everything else white.

Browse the Living etc. galleries -- you will see in living room after living room, elegant rooms with floors painted white, epoxied white, white rubber floors... White floors look very fresh (white-washed wood looks very '80s; a trend that has not resurfaced yet).