I have dark hardwood floors and dark furniture and do not regret the decision. Break up all the dark colors with rugs, art and lighting. The concern I have would be the choice of bamboo floors. While I love the idea of bamboo as a renewable choice as opposed to hardwoods, bamboo does dent when things are dropped on it. Might not be the best choice with children.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

i have dark wood floors. i don't have children. i don't have pets. i have a great dyson vacuum- that works amazing on floors...and still. STILL- neverending dust on the floors. never. ending.

it kills me. never again.

I have the same situation as hellcat. Dark floors. Lot of dark furniture. No regrets...We have light walls, rugs, accessories.

i agree with pepsin. if you go with dark floors, make sure to avoid something too smooth and shiny, or else you will see dust everywhere!

Go for it! If you get a nice tigery-striped maple stained a dark coffee (so you can still see the variegation in the wood), the dust/debris is actually less apparent than when on a white floor.... (1x cat, 1x child here).. People who go solid dark (or light) have the biggest problem. Just be prepared to change your kitchen cabinetry; what looks natural and honey-toned with your current all-white surround will look orange and phoney with a dark wood floor. (Really, who needs an excuse to freshen up a kitchen??) :)

I agree with Pepsin. I have dark floor..it looks beautiful but a bit of scratch, a bit of dust...you can see everything. Also, in my opinion, dark furniture don't go too well with dark floor...it's just too dark and everything sort of blends together into one big darkness.lol

I think dark hardwood floors would work well with your living room and kitchen. A lot of hardwood floors tend to lighten up over time with exposure to light. So I'd make sure first that you will be happy with both the beginning and end color.

I had dark bamboo floors in our last apartment in Seattle. We have a young son, and it's true, if you breathe wrong they scratch and dent. I felt the need to swifter them every single day. If you aren't a clean freak that enjoys that sort of thing, I recommend going with a medium colored hardwood. It's just more durable than bamboo. Good luck!

PS - This is also with the caveat that you alone know what you want and if you can put up with some negative for the positive payoff. For instance, we currently have white laminate floors from Ikea that I was obsessed with. I had to have them. And yes, they get really dusty and dirty. But once you learn to live with a certain level of dust that will just be there, then it's fine. Months later, and I still love them.

Yes yes yes!!!!!!!

I installed these: http://www.ecotimber.com/ecovintage-flooring-strandwoven-poplar-lastdance.php dark floors about 6 months ago and love them. I have two cats, and my only lifestyle change was to get a kitty litter that matched the floors. (It was a better kitty litter than we were previously using, so that was also an improvement.) They seem durable enough for our lifestyle--two adults, two cats, in a hallway and on stairs--and the variation of color in the wood conceals scratches nicely.

As for the dark on dark question, that's a good one. Personally, I think that combination works better in more formal or intimate settings. In more relaxed or common household areas, I would go with something lighter. Being a recent woven poplar convert, I would go in this direction: http://www.ecotimber.com/ecovintage-flooring-strandwoven-poplar-afternoontea.php. But that's me.

i put in dark matte stained bamboo 4 years ago, and maybe the products are better now, but the wood just doesn't seem to accept the stain, so every tiny scratch is white. Pretty visible on the dark floors. and second the denting comment earlier.

We have dark floors, and find dark furniture problematic. It depends on how much light your rooms get, in large part. As well, as others have mentioned, light walls are key. We painted most of our walls a glowing full-spectrum white.

The floors which are popular now in Europe, and which I can see coming to North America, are bleached oak, treated with lye and soap and finished with a hard wax (which is as matte as possible). That's what I want these days, anyway.

http://www.dinesen.com/eng/Dinesen-privat.php

http://www.woca.info/woodcare/floor/wood-lye.php

I always wanted dark floors until I had them. They always looked dusty and every blemish showed. I would definately go with a medium leaning towards dark rather than just dark and a verigated wood grain rather than no grain to hide the dust and blemishes.

Also after the trend of dark for years I am now onto gray and weathered.

How about going with a dark rich cork flooring. Its warm, beautiful, timeless, absorbs some noise and sustainable. You won't get the scratches and annoying visible layer of dust.

unabridged - eco timber does has nice products.

I love my dark hardwood floors...but a couple hours after I have vacuumed, I can already see the fibers from my jute rug migrating to the floor. After one day, dust, dust, dust.....

I wanted dark floors throughout my whole house because I have dark wood floors in my bathroom. The reason I decided not to was the dust issue. My house is not dusty, but the dark floors in my bathroom ALWAYS looked dusty... I was cleaning it at least 3 times a week.

I have since had my floors resanded, and just had a few clear coats put on top... and they look beautiful. So glad I did not go dark.

No ... No ... No ... No, unless you want to swiffer all day long, everyday. Dark floors show every. bit. of. every. thing. on. the. floor. Everything.

Seriously, people have blonde floors for a reason. You can't see the dirt.

I got the beautiful, dark bamboo floors 18 months ago. The super says I have the most beautiful floors in the building. Not the most beautiful apartment, just the most beautiful floors. And I have to sweep three times a day to just pretend they are clean.

Seriously, I have a stick vacuum for floors, a dust buster for corners, a swiffer, a Japanese broom, (three foot span), and a wet swiffer, and I still can't keep the floors clean.

I bought a Roomba two hours ago. I am going to set that sucker to vacuum four times a day, and keep my fingers crossed it can get all the dirt.

I have dark wood floors throughout my home. And I love them.

It's really no big deal to go over a couple of times a week. I'd rather have dust than I can see and clean than disguised dust. It appeals to the OCD in me :)

If you are concerned with the dark furniture, just add a couple of lighter area rugs in the darkest spots in your home. And keep the walls and woodwork light.

mschatelaine,
I am not a pro but I would say stay away from waxed floors. The wax will eventually build up and it is a pain the rectum (been there, done that, so I speak from my own experience). I would use a matt finish lacquer instead.
Just FYI.

I'm not sure about all this swiffer business, but from a purely aesthetic standpoint.....

I think it would work well. Especially if you work in lighter area rugs for color, interest and to define unique spaces

I recently painted my LR a dark gray color. While I rather like it, my yellow dog has merely to think about walking through the room and - voila - yellow hairs that are very visible. For me, testing color with paint has been a useful approach.

I recommend a medium colored hardwood. More durable and it hides the dirt well.

Dark wood floors were all the rage for a few years but medium colored (oak and so forth) are coming back.

Also, a medium color will make everything seem as though there is more light and your home, generally speaking, will appear to be larger.

PS: I did my living room floors with a dark stain a few years ago and then had a floor refinisher come last year. He restored the lighter color and it really does look much better.

CanadianMango -- there are different waxes which don't have to be removed and reapplied for years.

In the case of Dinesen, they use an oil.

http://video.dinesen.com/Rootsite/Dinesen_Floors_Videoside_08_ENG.html

Frankly, I prefer the matte finish of an oil to any kind of a plasticized or lacquered finish. We have a matte urethane finish on our floors, and I hate it. It scratches. I find that it's more of a *pain in the rectum* (as you put it) to deal with because it (eventually) involves sanding, which the oiled finished doesn't require. Plus, you just don't get that level of matte with urethane as you do with the oil.

Strand woven bamboo is much harder & about the same price as bamboo. When you hire an installer, you need to make sure they install it like hardwood, you use a different nail gun than what you use for bamboo due to it being much harder. My floors are on the darker side & I live in a dusty area. I just do a quick sweep every morning, vacuum with a dyson & light floor mop once a week. but... I only have 800 square feet to deal with. I don't have dark wood furniture but do have quite a bit of black pieces (leather couch, black stained maple bedroom set). Also, in Hawaii we don't wear shoes in the house so that probably alleviates some of the dirt showing up on the floor, I do change to flip flop or sheepskin slipper that is only worn in the house, not outside.

I break it up with all white walls, white cabinets in the bathroom, walk in & kitchen. Some white shelving and furnishings. Curtains are printed but do have white. Then pops of color throughout via rugs, accessories, art & appliances. I also make sure I have different textures going on, do have plastic/lucite items, lacquer (regency mirror/west elm parsons desk).

amy good house - I totally agree about being able to see the dust! My family thought I was crazy having white linens, curtains and walls in a dusty area but I have really bad allergies so rather see the dust/dirt early on so it gets cleaned before it builds up. Rather see it before I can feel it my sinuses. White sheets force me to change them regularly because they get dingy otherwise, if I had dark or printed sheets, I honestly can forget for weeks to change them out.

No, no, no. NO, NO, NO.

Pretty in pictures, hell to maintain. Expect to demand that guests walk around in socks.

Additionally, a lot of people do not like them. If resale is important to you, those folks will be thinking they have to refinish the floors. Expect half your potential market to disappear.

Yes to the flooring - but consider a medium/dark tone rather than a near-black tone.

We installed a medium dark "hardwood" laminate in our downstairs. We we were concerned that it would make the area too dark (we live in a town house, so don't have many windows or natural light). We were suprised to find after we installed that the downstairs was almost brighter, because the lamite reflected the light we did have so much better.

I have the golden bamboo which shows the dirt and also dents and scratches easily. I've also go medium dark tile that doesn't show any dirt with dark furniture and medium gray walls. The artwork is vibrant and I have accent pillows. The tile reflects light and the room does not look or feel too dark; just cozy.

A lighter oak color would look best in my opinion and show less bits of dirt and whatnot. Off-topic, could you tell me where you got the cream rug in the first picture? thank you

I'm with b77 about cork flooring. It's very forgiving, and also very comfortable to walk on. It also is a bit more sound-absorbent than hardwood. We have it in our basement and like it a lot.

I read a lot of British and Australian home magazines and light wood floors are extremely popular and look very modern. I think very dark floors are definitely on the way out...

We have strand woven bamboo and love it. We live in a small city, and there were very few good bamboo options in town. Bamboo options were either crappy or way too expensive. We ended up ordering samples of strand woven bamboo from several online distributers. We went with Ambient but also really liked Yanchi and Cali. Ours is a medium brown (honey) that is hand scraped. It shows some dirt but hides pet fur well. Both light and dark wood (and bamboo) are going to show dirt. Our contractor said that shiny floors are the worst for showing dirt-- maybe it's more that than light or dark. I'd rather see the dirt though than have nasty carpeting. I don't think it's any worse than tile.

I would go with more of a middle tone rather than dark. However pick a few that you're considering and see if you can borrow a sample. I know Home Depot lets you borrow/sign out a sample piece of various floors. Then you can lay it down in your home and see if it works for you.

I totally agree with Strawberry79 ... Take samples from the store if possible and see which one matches the best.
Very dark floors are pain in the back. You may choose something lighter , for example Brown Walnut or Smoked Walnut ...
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_a4Md9IBItJc/TNFWsN7F7rI/AAAAAAAAApA/pkhp0DtQ5x4/s1600/DOC0014503.JPG

Thank you to all who posted! We will probably go with a medium brown tone. I have some strand woven bamboo samples that we are considering. You all are the best!

The rug in the first picture was purchased at Lowe's about 6 years ago. Good luck!