Dark hardwood floors unify open-concept spaces and provide an opportune bedrock for expressive design. Dark hardwood is a go-to living room flooring choice for some of the world’s most luxurious properties. As with any flooring choice, there are some dos and don’ts of dark hardwood to keep in mind when assembling the perfect living room look in your home.
Below are the ten living room ideas with dark hardwood floors:
Idea #1: Window Curtains
For many living room ideas with dark hardwood floors, the window curtains will play a big factor. Your windows are a big opportunity to accessorize. If you want a bright room, your window curtains should be light in color. If you want to minimize the light in the room, dark curtains are suitable. Just remember, the darker you go, the more drama you add. With dark hardwood flooring, it can be a challenge balancing light and dark.
Idea #2: Lighting & Lamps
You can derive a lot of interest from a large living room window. This isn’t always enough to successfully light a room day and night though. Lamps can be placed around the room, upgrading the look of dark corners and low-light areas. In a room with dark engineered hardwood flooring, a homeowner has to ensure the room has enough light especially during the evening hours.
Idea #3: Leafy Plants
Throughout this list of living room ideas for dark hardwood floors, you will find inspiration in combinations of what fits together naturally. Dark hardwood in a living room suits greenery and leafy plants incredibly well. If you aren’t the gardening type, a few artificial plants work. Alternatively, if you really want to lean into it, starting a small indoor garden – even a faux one – creates a welcome visual balance.
Idea #4: Soft-Colored Area Rugs
Large living rooms can feel even more spacious when there’s a dark hardwood floor at play. Assuming you have different sections of your living room dedicated to different activities – i.e. entertainment space, a toy area for the kids, a reading chair, etc. – section it off with rugs. Soft-colored rugs is what you want to look for as this will contrast the darkness of the wood.
Idea #5: Balance Color and Light in Small Spaces
A small living room can come across feeling ‘heavy’ with dark hardwood. The answer is a balancing act between the dark hardwood, color, and light. Paint the walls in light or neutral shades. Use furniture that is bright and contrasting. In any living room, if you feel like it’s too dramatic or heavy, lightening up what’s in the room will immediately change that.
Idea #6: Use Color Pops on Living Room Centerpieces
A perfectly balanced living room in light and color will look good. How to get it to amazing is to incorporate color pops. What we mean by this is colorful, eye-catching centerpieces. If everything’s in light and neutral shades, a darkly colored hanging wall item works. A bright red, blue, or white also works.
In a calm and balanced living room, you don’t want boring. You’ve got to have a little bit of chaos somewhere. This is what keeps things interesting and what self-expression is made of.
Idea #7: Different Woods Give An Organic Look
A natural forest has many kinds of woods co-existing. Although some homeowners may find combining a bunch of wood styles to give too much of an organic, forest-esque look, it’s an alternative to creating contrast between light and dark. Lean into it. Match woods not only in furniture but also along frames, trims, doors, railings, and elsewhere. This is an approach that prioritizes nature, timelessness, and eco-friendliness over modern trends.
Idea #8: Match Aspects of Your Furniture to the Floor
Some homeowners will match the look of their dark hardwood floor in aspects of their furniture. Using a similarly-colored fabric pattern or getting furniture accessorized with a similar wood is unifying within the context of the room. For some, this can be ‘too much’. It’s a delicate trick. When in doubt, go light in color. This is one of the simpler and more common ways to create balance.
Idea #9: Polish Your Dark Hardwood Floors Regularly
Just a quick note on dark hardwood floor maintenance. Any imperfections stand out. Regular maintenance. Frequent polishing. If you do those two things, you’re going to keep your dark hardwood in its best shape. If they do become damaged in some way, cover them with area rugs. Over time, it’s natural for scratches to occur but they can bring down a living room appearance. Do what you can to ensure the floor is properly maintained and polished.
Idea #10: Textures
Dark hardwood floors can feel like jumping into a swimming pool. It’s very all-encompassing. Although a lot of the living room ideas focus on color, don’t forget what you can accomplish balancing the polish of hardwood with other textures in the room. In our experience, dark hardwood fits best with soft and fluffiness. Mixing together the flatness of the floor with unique textures ensure the room doesn’t come across looking overly stark.
