How to choose the perfect wood floor colours for your home
There are many reasons wood flooring is a perennial interior favourite – it’s timeless, it’s practical and hard-wearing, and it suits a range of décor styles and design aesthetics.
Whether you’re looking for an understated flooring option for a contemporary home, or a rustic-style wood floor that invokes rural bliss, you’re sure to find your perfect match in our range of wood flooring. Each plank of wooden flooring we offer is unique and carefully selected for its real, natural beauty.
Flooring is, quite literally, the foundation of every room – and it’s also the most permanent feature. You can repaint walls and change furnishings fairly easily but there’s more work involved to change the flooring of a space. We understand that choosing new flooring is a decision that requires much thought and care, so this guide will offer useful tips and advice on how to choose the perfect wood floor for your home.
Important factors to consider when choosing a wood floor colour
Room size
When it comes to choosing the ideal wood flooring, the first thing to consider is the size of the space. Although extremely subjective, small rooms often benefit from lighter colours – pale natural woodgrains or white/grey wood floors. In larger rooms, especially those privy to plenty of daylight, you can be bolder – almost any type and different colour wood flooring will work. If you’re drawn to golden, mid-toned wood colours or dramatic dark brown or black wood, a bigger space will better accommodate them. If you’re looking for flooring to cover more than one room or a large area of your home, a medium-toned woodgrain can add warmth without being too dominating.
Interior style
The style of the room and indeed your home will greatly sway you towards certain decisions. If you’re inspired by country cottages and rustic interiors, natural warm honey tones, slightly distressed finishes, textured wood or investing in solid wood flooring may be what fits your décor, furniture and style.
If your home is more contemporary, pale natural woodgrain will invoke a minimalist, Scandi-style feel, or perhaps your inspiration will be taken from your surroundings – e.g. if you live by the coast, a wood floor finished with white oil will bring a little of that outside sea freshness inside.
Traffic
Busy spaces like kitchens, hallways and staircases will benefit from highly durable flooring and colouring that doesn’t show every single scuff or scratch. For the high traffic areas of your home that have lots of people walking back and forth, it’s best to avoid very light and very dark colours, as both will show the dirt more than a mid-toned wood colour. Opting for a flooring type that already has a textured or distressed finish helps to hide minor wear-and-tear, as it will add to the natural, rustic effect.
The different types of wood flooring
Our most hard-wearing wood floors are our engineered and multiply wood ranges (which is simply a type of engineered wood flooring). Engineered flooring is made using three layers, while multiply wood flooring has multiple layers with a solid wood top layer so you get the look of a solid wood floor with additional durability. Both multiply and engineered wood flooring are resistant to heat and moisture so if you have your heart set on wood flooring in your kitchen, engineered wood is the way to go. Read our guide to looking after your engineered wood flooring.
Our solid wood flooring is made from blocks of hardwoods including oak, ash, maple, cherry and walnut. Solid wood flooring is durable and will last a lifetime, but it can scratch easily. If you’re going to invest in it, be prepared to sand out the occasional scratch from time to time. Solid wood is also less resistant to moisture and can warp or shrink with prolonged exposure to heat, so is unsuitable for bathrooms, kitchens and rooms with underfloor heating.
Oils and waxes
Solid wood flooring colours: we have a range treated with oils and waxes that not only protect and enhance the look of the wood but add colour too. Our most popular oil-treated wood floors range from white engineered wood flooring to a brown engineered wood floor:
Canterbury Smoked White is a white oak wood floor made from engineered oak and treated with white oil. Complete with knots and natural features, it’s perfect for a rustic or seaside home.
York Old English is a multiply oak flooring finished with hard wax oil to give a rich, almost treacle-gold colour that will fill your home with warmth.
Bespoke Herringbone 9122 is a dark brown engineered wood floor treated with light grey oil to bring out the details of the woodgrain.
Choosing a light wood floor colour
White or pale grey wood floors are a popular choice to help create a serene light and airy space. They’re also the perfect wood floor colour for modern homes and fans of understated and minimalist styles.
Manhattan Skyline Grey is an engineered wood floor with a pale grey finish. Grey wood floors work well in a range of settings and would particularly suit a contemporary space alongside similar colours – whites, greys and neutral shades.
Stockholm 190 White is a white oak wood floor that has been finished with oil allowing the natural grains and shades of the pale wood to shine through. Highly versatile with resistance to heat or moisture, this white engineered wood flooring would be a great fit for a kitchen or bathroom.
Bespoke Herringbone 9102 is an engineered wood floor finished with white oil that will add gentle light to any room. The elegant herringbone pattern brings a touch of tradition to an otherwise contemporary choice. Discover more about the classic herringbone style in our blog post.
Choosing a natural or mid-toned wood floor colour
Natural and mid-toned shades work in both modern and traditional settings, and suit small and larger rooms alike, especially if you’re seeking one flooring type for a large portion of your home.
Louvre Natural is an engineered chevron wood flooring. On the lighter end of the medium tones, this sandy gold wood floor will work in almost any setting – classic or contemporary. Louvre Natural will add warmth to larger spaces and won’t overpower a smaller room.
Barnes Natural is an engineered oak floor with a brushed surface. A warm dark blonde colour, this wood floor will add cosiness to a room, and its natural finish would bring a touch of rustic charm.
Westminster Barley is one of our solid oak herringbone floors. Rich with warmth and natural detail, this floor has a slightly distressed finish, which makes it an excellent choice for a traditional home. Its warm tones are welcoming and homely.
Choosing a dark wood floor colour
Wood flooring in dark colours makes a real statement and will turn your floor into the focal point of the room. Dark wood flooring with cool tones creates a more formal look so if you love entertaining, black or charcoal grey wood floors in a dining room provide a sophisticated mood for hosting wonderful dinners and parties.
Modena Tobacco is an engineered wood floor in a dark brown shade, available in a herringbone pattern. Best suited to spaces that get plenty of light, this dark wood flooring has a glossy lacquered finish and will have immediate impact in any room.
For a contemporary and striking style, the dark grey wood floors of the Westminster Slate is stunning. Westminster Slate is one of our solid oak floors and is available in a herringbone pattern.
If you love a traditional look, see our Princeton Saddle – a rich cocoa-brown wood floor that would look beautiful paired with classic or rustic-inspired décor, in a large or well-lit space.
Type & design
Engineered
For the largest selection of engineered wood flooring in Surrey visit our showroom in Camberley.
Herringbone
Herringbone wood flooring, also known as parquet wood flooring is enjoying a renaissance in recents years.
Multiply
Multiply is a variation of engineered wood flooring.
Solid Wood
ou can view large scale samples, and room sets of our Westminster Collection in our Surrey wood flooring showroom.
Chevron
Chevron patterned parquet flooring is a variation on herringbone with small planks laid at angles to each other.
Bespoke
Our bespoke wood flooring gives you the option to choose your colour, board size and style.
Multi-width
Prior to modern milling techniques trees were felled and cut into random sizes to be used for flooring.
Patterned
Patterned parquet wood flooring is growing in popularity for commercial environments and private homes.
Plank
The choice of plank wood flooring has increased dramatically in recent years due to the advent of engineered wood flooring.
Visit our showroom
We’re more than happy to talk you through the options and answer your questions over the phone but if you’re nearby, we’d love to see you in our showroom in Camberley, Surrey. Our range of wood flooring is spread across 16 rooms on our first floor and here you’ll be able to talk to our friendly, professional team of flooring experts and ask any questions you may have.
If you can’t make it to our showroom, you can use our sample service and have samples of your choices delivered right to your door. And if there’s anything more we can do to help you choose your new flooring, please do get in touch.
