2017 Wood Flooring Color Trend Report for New England
Color Trends For 2017
Trends and wood floors don’t seem like they go together well; trends come and go with the seasons, but wood floors are an investment that can last for your whole life.
But wood floor trends aren’t short-lived like fashion trends. They’re more gradual, long-lasting changes in interior decorating tastes.
The trends for wood flooring in 2017 have been slowly growing in the past years, but are now very clear; for wood floors, the most fashionable and attractive trends in wood floors are on the extremes and right in the middle of the spectrum—very light wood, very dark wood, and grey wood.
Which one is right for you? It all depends on your taste and your space!
Dark Wood for 2017
Over the past few years, fashionable floors have been getting darker and darker. Colors like ebony, jacobean, espresso (a blend of ebony and a lighter jacobean), and dark walnut are becoming more and more popular. Last year, a Duraseal stain is coming out that is darker than all of these, called “True Black.” These super dark stains definitely make a statement!
What’s What With Dark Wood Flooring
Dark wood floors are beautiful, sleek and classy. However, they’re definitely more work-intensive and delicate than lighter wood floors. If you want a very dark or black wood, you will have to stain your floors because there simply isn’t a wood dark enough. Any stain you apply is likely much darker than the wood underneath, so scratches or dings might go through the stain and become much more noticeable.
Dark woods also tend to make a space look smaller. So if you have a tiny apartment or condo, dark floors may make the space look smaller and more closed in than you prefer. However, if you have a bigger space with a more open floor plan, dark floors will look great.
If you do still want to get a dark wood but are worried about scratches and dings being more noticeable, make sure to get a satin finish, which shows dings and dents less. Also, a lighter dark–like jacobean–will work better. And keep in mind, if your wood floor has water stains or knots, a dark or black stain will hide it better!
Trendy Blondes
Lighter woods and blonde floors are another trend here to stay in 2017. After dark and black stains, these light colors are the most popular option. To achieve this look, you can either use a naturally light wood like Ash or White Oak and no stain, or you can use a very light stain or whitewash. These light floors give the space a light, open feel and will remain timelessly beautiful.
The Lowdown on Light Wood Flooring
To get a light floor, you need to start with a light wood. The best types for this are Red Oak, White Oak, Maple, Ash, and Bamboo. When you refinish your wood floors, the stain comes off and the raw wood shows through, so even if you have stained your floors dark in the past, you can still have light floors if you used one of these lighter woods.
Unlike dark wood, lighter floors give spaces a brighter, more open, airy feel. So use them to make a smaller space seem bigger and brighter! And because light colored dirt, dust, and sand will blend in with the light wood, you won’t have to clean your floor as often as you would with a dark wood floor. And scratches don’t show up as much either!
So if you want a low maintenance way to make your space look brighter and bigger, natural stains (i.e. no color) and light woods are the way to go.
Go With Grey
Out of these three trends, grey floors are probably the most daring (who would have ever thought grey would be called daring?!). A grey stain looks best on maple or birch wood. Grey stained wood has a lot of the same benefits of light and blonde wood floors—it doesn’t show scratches and needs to be cleaned less. But it makes more of a statement and is a more unique, trendy choice.
Fashionable Flooring
If you want your house’s flooring to be fashionable yet beautiful one of these three options is the way to go. Which one you choose depends on your own tastes and the existing color scheme of your space, as well as the needs of your family. But if you want to choose a trend that is sure to become a classic, you can’t go wrong with light wood, very dark wood, or grey flooring.