When we first moved into our house there was carpet in nearly every room, aside from the bathrooms, kitchen, and entryway. The carpet had certainly seen better days and was in desperate need of replacing. We we dreamed of replacing it with a beautiful medium or dark hardwood flooring. We ripped up all the carpet on the main floor and lived with sub floors for a few months (knowing we would do the upstairs in the same flooring down the road). We were wavering between solid hardwood, engineered hardwood, and luxury vinyl. After a few months of deliberation we finally landed on a darker, solid hardwood.
I talk all about how our hardwoods are holding up in this post. I wrote it nearly 3 years ago and our floors truly still look the exact same – almost no scratching or scuffing, which I think is incredible for hardwoods!
Our floors have held up beautifully and we have zero regrets on the type of flooring we chose, however, the feeling is not the same for the color of flooring we selected.
PRO: STYLE OF OUR HOME
We feel the darker hardwoods go well with both our personal style and the style of our home. Our home is a Tudor style home built in 1980. While not a true Tudor, our home’s style definitely leans more classic than modern. The dark hardwoods in a smaller 3 inch width feel very classic. In my opinion, light, medium and dark hardwoods can all feel classic depending on the style of hardwood. We ultimately chose darker hardwoods because we both liked the richer tone.
CON: SHOWS EVERY SPEC OF DUST AND HAIR
While dark hardwoods are very pretty, they show every single spec of dust, dirt, and hair. Comparing to more medium tone floors, they are extremely unforgiving in this department. Medium tone floors tend to camouflage dirt and hair a little better. I am all for having clean floors, but I would truly have to vacuum twice per day to have them look clean, especially at the times of day the sun does shine directly in the windows. They also show every drop of water and drool from the dogs.
CON: LOOK DARKER THAN THEY ARE
Our house faces north, something we really didn’t consider when we bought it. North facing homes tend to read cooler and darker inside. We also live in a little bit of a valley of our neighborhood with lots of tall, mature trees. As a result of both the direction our house faces and location, we do not get the best natural light shining through our windows.
When you look straight down at the hardwood it looks like its true color, which is a deep, rich brown that has some medium tones in it. However, looking out across a room the floors tend to take on a monotone look, which make them appear darker than they are. Also the cooler, north facing light that comes in the front of the house also gives the floors the appearance of being darker than they are.
WOULD WE GET FLOORS THIS DARK AGAIN?
No, most likely we would not. I do love the color of the floors, but ultimately the darker color shows hair and dirt too easily for them to feel practical. With 1 kid, another baby on the way, and 2 dogs as much as I love something to be beautiful (which I think dark hardwood floors are), I also need it to be practical. If I were to go back and choose again, I would likely selected a more mid-tone color of hardwood (in the exact same brand/line that we have, just a little lighter!). But that is definitely not something we are going to change and despite the frustrations I have with them for showing all of the dirt and hair, I do love the way they look and am choosing to embrace their beauty.
If you have wood floors in your home what color are they? And do you like them?
