Once you’ve made your decision on the flooring you want in your South Australian home, you’ll find that there are more colour options than you can poke a stick at. Light floors can help your home feel extra spacious and are excellent at hiding dust and scratches, while darker coloured floors require a bit more upkeep, but can make your home feel warmer than ever.
Both light and dark floors have their benefits and their drawbacks, so which one’s right for you?
The bright side of light floors
By choosing a lighter floor colour, you’ll help to make your home feel brighter and more spacious. This is especially important in smaller homes, or houses that don’t receive a lot of natural light.
Lighter floor colours help to hide dust and scratches, allowing you to go that extra while longer between cleaning or re-coating your timber floors. Lighter stains on timber floors also allow more of the beautiful wood grain to show through – what’s the point of having timber floor if you can’t recognise that it’s timber!
Drawbacks of light floors
Lighter floors will show dark stains like mud and red wine more prominently and are more likely to stain long-term. This might lead to you being hyper-vigilant whenever you uncork a wine bottle or pull out a chocolate mud cake for the kids’ birthdays.
Lighter stained timber floors also tend to show more wood grain. This may be something you’re looking for, or it may clash with the rest of your décor and force you to change out some furniture.
Why choose dark floors?
Dark floor colours are an excellent way to make a statement in your home. The darker colour can help larger homes feel more cosy and personal, adding a sense of warmth and security.
Darker floors also stand out less, making your wall coverings or carefully chosen furniture the centre of attention. And you won’t need to worry about stains like red wine or chocolate so much – they won’t show up nearly as much as on lighter floors.
But darker floors also have a dark side.
Because of their deeper colour, you’ll need to make sure that you clean dark floors more often. Dust, crumbs and lighter coloured hair will show up much more than on lighter floors. Dark timber floors also show their scratches and scuffs more readily, so it might be an idea to add an extra clear coat whenever you re-stain your floor.
If you have a smaller home, or lack natural light, dark floors will make the room feel small and claustrophobic, so unless you’re prepared to make your walls and furniture white and bright, it might pay to stay away from dark floors.
Which should I choose?
There’s no one right choice when it comes to floor colours. Whether you choose a light or dark colour depends on your home, your lifestyle and the design choices you’ve made in the rest of the house.
Whatever you choose, make sure to purchase quality flooring, and have a professional install it – it’s your home, so don’t take shortcuts!
