apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

"Tan", "gray" and "modern" all point (imho) to a mid-tone, gray-brown walnut (my current favorite wood).

I'm with AT and P2 on this one. But I tend to not like floors that are too light, anyway. Not a big fan of the orangey oak.

I actually had wood floors that were pretty old and distressed, and needed refinishing before I moved in - rather than going dark and trying to fix them, I went super light and intentionally distressed them. I actually had the floors whitewashed with a clear coating on top. I personally love the way it looks (my living room is very mid-C, lots of heywood-wakefield), and it's certainly not the country kitchen look of your photo above.

Actually, here's a blog entry from my renovation where the bedroom floors had been done (they were also covered in sawdust at the time, so be warned)

http://www.very-simple.com/iblog/C1855485962/E20050724191816/index.html

I have heard that maple is a very soft wood. So it will become distressed very quickly! If this is not the look you are going for, I wouldn't choose Maple wood. Check with vendor.

I like dark, altho I don't like an ebony with too much red in it. more an ebony/jacobean mix.

Also, I know it's all about matt finish these days, but glossy is so out, it's in.

I remember in the '80s we were refinishing a wood floor and just putting clear polyurethane over it without any stain, and thinking, What were they thinking, to stain this floor so dark? Now obviously the trend is, What were they thinking, such light floors?

I am in the process of installing Pergo in a cleints home.

www.pergo.com

They have some great colors to choose from and very inexpensive.

I have not used them before but I have listed some great options from the catalog.

Vintage home- Traditonal Stipe in Bradstreet Maple PVH 56003 Select - Milan Maple PS 50240
Accolade - Brazilian Cheery PJ 2602

But my favorite is the Accolade White Pine Planked PJ 2604.

I was told that delivery takes about 2-3 weeks, perhaps your landlord can get it faster?

Be careful with the super dark floors - they show all kinds of dirt, pet hair, including large dust bunnies caused by shag rugs.

Good luck!

i'm with sam -- and have recently chosen a pale cool maple pergo (no knots, a distinct benefit) for a very dark apt with low ceilings. not sure it could have handled a dark dark floor, unless it had a nice glossy finish to reflect light back, rather than absord. and with pergo, the finish isn't glossy or reflective. i think i made the right choice. tho you've all got me wondering if i'm going to have to wait 10 years to feel like i've got hip flooring when pale maple comes back!

I am probably not going to be too helpful since I know nothing about wood, but the wood floors in my new apartment are light (like the maple ones in the picture) and I actually like them, even though the are supposedly out of style (maybe my apartment is AHEAD of the trends!). I would have chosen a darker stain if it had been up to me, but after living with them for a couple of months, I don't think i would change them. Most of my furniture is darker wood so it would be too dark if my floors were dark too.

The floors I have are also really durable and easy to clean - I have been moving furniture around on them for months and nothing seems to scratch them.

Bisous to AT for posting my question - sorry it was so long. I wrote you after a Christmas party, and, well... I was a little (ahem) wordy.

Thanks very much everyone for the advice. I guess my worry is very much related to what Joan says. The very dark floors are such a downtown condo look that they seem doomed to end up dated. And I'm not sure I really like the wenge-coloured floors, in any case, especially here in perpetually dark and rainy Vancouver. (Now if I had a fireplace, I might change my mind!)

I will check into the more medium grey-browns. Curtis and P2, you are two of my heroes, and I trust your suggestions.

I really appreciate everyone's advice. "Landlord" is a misnomer, since I'm living in a hippie-style co-op. We own a share in the co-op that owns the building, but we don't own the apartment. (These are not unusual in parts of Canada, especially Vancouver, but I don't know if they exist elsewhere.) I will be sharing the costs with the co-op on this one, and I don't want to %$#$!! it up with a decent amount of my own unrecoverable money at stake.

It's still a good deal for me - my housing charge is very low, and I do get to vote whenever there's a motion to increase it. I plan to be here for a few years, and it's worth it to me to throw some money at the floors. Still cheaper than buying a condo, by a long shot.

There I go again, stone-cold sober and wordy. Guess it's just a character flaw!

Amy, sorry that my insecurity was contagious! I lived with very pale fir floors in my last apartment, and really liked them. The building was 1890s, but the floors didn't seem at all out of place (they had been redone - in the late 80s/early 90s, I guess.)

But they just came with the place. Now I'm faced with making the decision myself, and I'm not finding it a very liberating experience. Yarggh.

I can't seem to get onto the Pergo website right now, Turquoise, but once I can I'll check out your suggestions. I thought Pergo just did laminates, rather than engineered woods?

You may want to consider Tarkett flooring. They have a variety of products that you may find useful. I used Tarkett industrial laminate in my place and lo and behold the place lightened up

Blue--

I'm also fairly certain that the other benefit of Pergo is that when you go, so too the Pergo. If not the case with Pergo, I know it is with some other engineered floors, so maybe make that part of your search criteria.

Since you are in Vancouver, check out any West Coast interiors magazines... I was always fascinated by the truly earthy and distinct color palettes of the Pacific Northwest. Or google the work of amazing Seattle designer Terry Hunziker. Rather than fight the gloom, he (and other designers out there) create this perenially warm earthy palette that is quite distinct and amazing.

And don't give up on a light floor if that's your predilection... just keep to a non-yellow, non-orange tone and it won't look cheesy.

And finally, Ikea also offers an engineered floor (Tundra?), and there was a slate-gray stained version that I thought was gorgeous. So perhaps remove the idea of "brown" entirely from the mix?

Blue, what part of the country are you in? The quality of light (or in your case, as you mentioned, the lack thereof) is going to be a big factor in how/how good the floors look, and in what color. In my experience, East Coast light is a lot warmer than West Coast.... while I love love love walnut, and would love a walnut floor, I think that here in San Francisco it would make my house look too icy
(of course this is also a factor of all the other colos, etc.). So that's another thing to muddle your thoughts!

just a quick blurb about maple. it is not a 'soft' wood, it's in the middle of the hardness scale with pine being near the softest end and teak/walnut at the hardest end. Maple is in the middle and is harder then oak. You know they make baseball bats from it!!

About color, i've been on the light maple color thing for a while but lately i think the darker stains work really well, can work with light colors on the walls or warmer colors. It really grounds a room, my only concern would be a dark color on the wall in a small room.

Terry Hunziker - wow. Can't find too many pictures, but I love this room! Check out the link on my name - a picture from AD. (wide plank light floors that don't look at all countryish - the dark contrast next to them helps. Not sure I have any way to achieve exactly that, but still...)

thanks, p2!

blue--
Yes! He is quite the color master (and gets th ebalance right between formal and in-, refined and raw, etc. And I think the lesson in that photo, regarding wall and floor colors, is that by making the two of them closer in value, the more you blur the lines of the room's edges and potentially expand the space.

But the other thing is his always-adept use of installed lighting, and lighting in layers (all on dimmers, of course!). Key to chasing the gloom away, regardless of how light/dark the elements are.

i live in brooklyn in a very similiar (hippie-ish) co-op to you! when we moved in we had the wood sanded down and a walnut finish put on with 2 coats of poly on top. it looks great with our mid-c/modern furniture and doesn't show too much dirt/dust/pet hair/etc. most of our furniture has dark wood (like wenge) accents which differentiates it a bit from the floor but i think it looks very complimentary.
good luck!

do you have wall colors picked out yet? I think dark floors look great with white white walls or else it's tricky. If you are doing a blue/gray wall or something like that, I'd go more colonial maple stain.

blue--
Thanks for also pointing out the distinction between two possible categories here... laminate flooring and "engineered hardwood".

Oh, my head is chock-full of flooring information right now! I do want the durability and the natural grain variation of an engineered wood.

Thinking about lighting - I've been going into Starbuck's with a fresh set of eyes. Those Pacific Northwesters are very good at lighting all layers of a space, making it very inviting in the perpetual gloom we have to tolerate in this part of the world. I think I'm going to start taking notes when I go in for a latte...

(k1ate - I'm in Vancouver. 23 days of rain in a row and counting. People keep telling me, "at least it's not snow." Hrmph. I do not find this very consoling. I've just moved back here, and I miss snow!)

Say what you will about Starbuck's but they revolutionized the look of retail/food service interiors, and in ways that TOTALLY can inspire a rsidential interior. From regional art, to (as Blue mentions) dead-on, gloom-fightin' lighting, to an amazing and flattering palette, to paying attention to (the design and color of) ceilings...

I think they should release their own paint color palette, like Pottery Barn just did...

"... a cozy modern look", isn't that an oxymoron?

My 2 cents:

We had oak strip flooring that was finished with an oil based poly. Light and very shiny. Not something I would do today but I liked the look and still do for the most part. I just prefer a darker, more matt look now. However, the light color and the thickish coat of poly made the floor very durable (worked very well in the kitchen area) and it hid a lot of imperfections and dirt. Close up pic here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64483597@N00/85082229/

We now have dark teak (they were supposed to be walnut but it's close enough) strips finished with tung oil. Photos cannot do the look justice. The wood looks like it is a living breathing organism because the texture and grain is so rich. However, scratches are a nightmare in that they are so easy to do and see. That blue rocking dog in the above pic? Never made any marks that you could see on the poly'd oak but immediately created horrendous scratches on the tung oiled teak. Yep, we had to get it all redone! Blue doggy now has substantial felt strips on the bottom.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64483597@N00/85082230/

Other apartments in the building and the lobby got the same dark flooring finished with poly and, to my eyes, it does not work as well as with the lighter oak.

I guess what I'm trying to say, and this has been said already, is that lighter flooring does not have to look too country kitchen and even though the glossy look may be out of favor right now, it is very hard wearing.

BTW, in another recent thread some people talked about the ebonized wood floors being so 2004 or 2005 (both years were used). Perhaps we could use a British term that was proffered in a Brit newspaper when trying to figure out a neat way to talk about the first 10 years of the new millenium (because we are so used to saying the sixties, seventies, eighties etc.)? So, because nought is used to zero, then could we say that that ebonized floors are so mid noughties?

Ya know I might not have any right to say this, but damn it I'm going too.

Stuff whats in and whats out, lots of people just follow mags and have absolutely no style of there own, yes it looks nice but do what you want, what will make you happy, because whats in now, will be out later and of course it will be back again (just like flairs and turtle shell sun glasses)

of course that comment is not ment for everyone on AT, but for the general population (much like a clothes horse)

You GO, Ben!

I also think the floor is a HUGE issue when you are *picking* the floor, and the room is bare. After you get stuff back in, I think, to some extent, ANY floor will work (discussions about maintenance notwithstanding), and can be coaxed in any number of stylistic directions.

To me what is most important, especially in a small space, is that flooring remain as similar from room to room as possible. And if not literally the same material, then the same color value.

I love this site. Also impressed by all the good advice given so far. I'll add a few. You have more than one solution which would work. What to avoid is probably more important.I would advise avoiding knotty pine, oak-with it's noticable heavy grain pattern, or any golden/orangy tone stains. I would say either the walls or the floors need to be dark to balance the dark tones of your furniture. Just don't go dark all over. I made that mistake once; It was very dramatic for entertaining -- but impossibly dark and depressing during the day.And the ebony wood showed dust pet hair and scratches.
If you like Starbucks, Ralph Lauren suede and sand paint has some coffee and neutrals you might like (my favorite). Their suede paint, when applied as directed-- with a big brush-- gives a modulated depth which will help expand dark walls. I've used some of his coffe toned suedes and his off black -- in both my condo entrance, living room, and kitchen. A couple LR walls are medium latte glaze. Also, just say no to white ceilings or trim. Cream or camel ceilings work. I'm considering painting my LR ceiling pewter. I can't change the flooring so I'm laying down seisel(?) rugs and my ever favorite flokati, to lighten it. In my opinion, aged teak, brown mahogany, or a rich tobacco stain look great for dark. Pale Maple with no orange tones is nice for light. Just please stay away from oak grain and knotty pine. Good Luck

Quick response to Klate's excellent comment about quality of light where you live. She is absolutely dead on regarding how light varies from one part of the country and world to another. It's key to decorating. I'm not familiar with San Francisco, but when I lived in upstate NY, the light was cool blue. When I moved to the south, the sun filtered thru the thick green leaves, into the house and effected my neutral grey walls with unwanted reds and lavenders (complimentary to green I guess).--just drove me crazy.

I am having the same debate about what color to stain a new oak floor. We are renovating our 1890s narrow (13'6" wide) 3 story Victorian. We opened up the downstairs so that it is mostly one long rectangle leading to a kitchen that ends in a window wall out to a small garden. The floors had been a gorgeous patina-ed pine but not refurbishable. Too damaged by a leak.

There is a tall Victorian Tiger Oak Mantlepiece which will stay, a new wall of maple modern built-ins in the dining area/kitchen and a very modern kitchen -- cement countertops, glass backsplashes. The dining table is an Italian: glass and steel.


I don't want that very ebonized look -- we did that in 1988 when we bought the house and subsequently refinished the floors back to their original pine. but now it will be oak through and I can't decide on the color. Unstained is too light and I have to coordinate with the stairs which are still pine. I could stain the oak to harmonize with the pine but I think it may not be right with what is becoming a modern interior. Any ideas?

We are building a custom home in Williamsburg Va. We chose a jacobean mix wood floor stain. It was a shock to walk into. We have painted and glazed cabinets in a candlelight with a darker glaze.

I have always seen the light floors. We are the small percentage of folks choosing darker colors in wood stains these days we are told.

I would love to hear from folks who love the darker stains. I would also love to hear from folks, who wish they would have done lighter.

I am planning on replacing all the wood floors in my apartment and will shop tomorrow for the first time. I am attracted to light wood. Don't want the log cabin look at all. Will paint the walls yellow
(see it here: http://marge201.blogspot.com )
and would love the lightest color floor possible. Wood? Laminate? Definitely planks, not parquet (square tiles). White molding.
I've never done this before and am totally clueless but I have a few fashionista friends with strong opinions. Glad to have found this site!

We are installing in a new oak floor in the kitchen and we think that a stain of medium chestnut or nutmeg is what we like. How do we select a stain cabinet color on clear Alder wood to coordinate with the darker floor color?

Hello, My sister and I own a townhome, in Orlando, FL. We recently had lamanent wood flooring installed in the downstairs of out townhome. The color is exquisite maple...which is a warm medium color. It is pretty and blends with out maple spice cabinents. They installed baseboards which are a sold color (they probably are about the same color as the darkest piece of wood in our floor), but still within the medium shade. Our kitchen floor is tile..the appliances are silver and black and the countertops are speckaled black with some grays.

We love the look right now. However, we are trying to decide on furniture color. We recently bought a cream colored leather sofa. The bottom of the sofa is talored with a piece of dark wood. I love dark wood furniture and have since found a great dark wood wine rack. Do you think dark wood, rather than black or maple wood, could go in our townhome?

Help!
I am considering wood floors in the kitchen. I have two problems (besides the fact that it is probably a bad idea considering the maintenance issues).

1st question--I have red oak everywhere and doorways with saddles currently separate the kitchen from the rooms with redoak. Three years ago, the floors were stained cherry with 3 coats of poly-- they ambered-I'm stuck with that. Do I have to do the same thing in the kitchen? I won't be able to match it perfectly no matter what, but if I do the same thing, it will probably age similarly. My kitchen cabinets are white and lighting is not great since it faces north. If I don't have to match the stain, what colors could I do?

2nd question -- why avoid a water-based acrylic finish, which the floor contractor is pushing?
Thank you
Maureen

We just had our floors redone. The sanding looked really light. In the day they are great, but at night much more orange comes from them. They are maple in an 1870's home. Why the orange? Do peple like this golden/orange thing?

Can anyone help?

Hi Matt,
Mine oranged-out also. I didn't realize that certain woods, such as redoak, turn amber--I think maple turns amber also. Then if you add a light red stain or if the wood has some pink or red in it, it becomes somewhat orange. I also didn't realize poly turns them gold or yellow. Actually, I'm one of the people who thinks it's stunning. It's not boring, for sure. It only matters that you like it. If you didn't stain it, you could have the poly screened and put a water-based finish on it--the wood won't change color, but it might look a little plastic.

Maple is a beautiful wood.

Hi-just discovered the site.
We also are wondering if we should put hardwood floors in the kitchen.
Has anyone checked the Costco website ? They have solid oak floors that can be ''clicked'' together to assemble-- sounds almost too good to be true-- I always thot that was only possible with laminate or engineered. The colors are light and medium oak --it's called ''Gunstock Oak''.
The upside of oak is that the grainy effect is very forgiving on scratches and other damage- and is very easily repaired. But I do love the look of maple because it is more contemporary.
I was wondering if any of you decoraters out there can tell me what type and color of hardwood floors should we install in the kitchen ? We would like to put in natural maple cupboards --so would the oak floors suit ? -Or should we install white cupboards with oak floors ? Can Maple be mixed with oak ? Please help -- I am going nuts trying to figure this out !!!
PS> We intend to put in solid hardwood-not engineered or laminate-the homes in our area tend to go for higher prices with solid hardwood . Thanks -from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.--GO OILERS !!!!!!!!

I don't see why maple cupboards can't look great with oak floors--sounds great. If you look at a kitchen display center or catalogues,you'll see that combination.

Solid oak interlocking floors sound interesting

Hi my question is to the earlier comment about going dark in a floor stain- like ebony but staying away from cool and more toward an esspresso brown color - can anybody reccomend a stain by name brand for that effect? I am about to stain 90 year old pine floors and I don't want a jet black which is to aggressive but a dark brown almost black color. Thanks!

Always test a bunch of stains on the floor, before choosing. The manufacturers color chips are really misleading pending the wood type.

Hi,

I'm so confused, I need a decorator’s opinion. I am building a house. It is supposed to be kind of a "Bucks County style farm house" I like the darker colors, but every color seems to clash with the with the Auburn Cherry cabinet in the kitchen. The whole bottom floors as well as the stairs are red oak; I have pine wood beams, fireplace mantel, and pine on some of the ceilings. My dilemma is what color stain to choose? Do I do the same stain throughout? One more thing to through into the mix; My Kitchen has 2 different color cabinets one side is ivory and the other side auburn cherry. Help!

I think a light color such as natural would go well. I'd use a water-based finish so the color doesn't yellow.

I need help quick about what floor covering to get for my kitchen. My walnut cupboards were refinished and are very dark and very red. I had them not urethane them so they are not shiny at all They take up two full walls. The stove is off white. The counters will be a very light grey/beige with lots of chocolate dits and veins of a very light salmon (basically it looks like sand- very light colored). I am getting 2 skylights put in- it was very dark before as I just have one tiny window. I will be replacing the floor which is vinyl over concrete now. I like the look of cork the best but I think it is too expensive. Therefore I am also considering Marmoleum (tan-pink color), tile ,or engineered wood (very light bamboo- I would prefer maple but the bamboo is alot cheaper the floor store told me). I really do not know anything more than I have said about the relative cost of these flooring choices. My considerations are: beauty, cost, cost, cost, softness, and durability. Anything that requires upkeep of any type is out. I do not like tile and it is toohard but it mgiht be the cheapest and most durable. What
flooring do you recommend and what color? I live where it is very rainy, so despite the skylight, I am concerned about light as the dark cabinents take up 2 full walls. The kitchen is 12 X 13. What type and color flooring should I get? Also, any hints on lighting? I am planning can lights all around over the cabinets and an old fashioned chandelier (from 1910) with 4 lights in the center. I love old fashioned things, thats why that light but is it too much? Should I get the fixture with 2 lights (only 150 watts though)? In general though, I want things to look simple and clean not fancy. I am not in a position now to do any shopping or take long to make this decision- I just need to tell the contractor what to do. Oh, by the way, I have an little old wood stove in one corner. Thanks so much for your help, jana

Hey Everyone,
I've got a Wood Flooring "Cheat Sheet" posted on my site cityhammer.com to help you get started on either refinishing an existing floor or finding the right pro to install a new one.

here's a link: http://cityhammer.com/tips/show/?id=34

if you're looking for good flooring pro's in the New York Area, we have a section filled with them including ratings and reviews, here it is:

http://cityhammer.com/catalog/companyList/?category_id=22

Josh

Hi design gurus.

I have a large apt with medium amount of light and large windows. Its a new construction and ive asked the contractor not to put floors in because i want to put my own in. Ideally I want engineered wideplank "loft" style floors so i dont have to put a subfloor down and they can be glued directly to concrete..

MY QUESTION: is what colour floors to put in??

I initially was into the white washed look in an oak... but many people say thatll be too beachy for NY and I should put in dark ebony floors.
I dont want to get lost in trends but i also dont want boring floors.
definately DONT want red, yellow or orange in the floor colour.
I keep hearing that dark floors scratch and show dust... but will light floors be popular for resale and adaptable for all paint and furniture..


My kitchen cabinets are a light cherry (wish i could change them) and i will probably paint the walls in light beige, white colours with mainly neutral furniture in greys and cream/white. i like light and dark wood for furniture and white.
there are also 2 terraces with concrete pavers which i want to feel like they flow from indoor to outdoor.
thanks