Thank you for all the comments! That's a lot to think about. I was also set on dark wood, but after hearing about how hard they are to keep looking clean, I've decided to look into medium to lighter shades. Now picking the exact color will be another source of stress. But fun stress I suppose...

I'm with the majority: Medium or medium-light tones will be the easiest to live with and keep clean. I personally think dark would be the worst -- again, for the same reason as everyone else: Everything shows.

Don't stress too much about it. Once you've filled the room with furniture, the floor will become a background player, not the star.

You already have plenty of input, but I'll add my two cents as well. I went with medium maple hardwoods with a handscraped finish. Not only does the coloring disguise dirt, but if you drop or scrape something, it just looks like part of the finish. So it's easy to hide the dings and scratches that happen with day-to-day living.

rjswaney - do you have pics of your maple floors?

Picture of our maple floors! Engineered maple smooth matte finish.

Shayneabe - nice floors! Thanks for sharing!

I adore the look of dark floors, BUT after having dark floors in our rental (and mopping nearly every day) we decided against dark floors in our new house. We did white oak with a satin finish poly and LOVE them. So much easier to maintain.

angelazuill - gorgeous kitchen! Loving the floors too.

Wow! Lovely!!!! The more I look at these lighter floors the more I like them!

I know my dark floors will be a pain to keep spotless, but I would have always envied any dark floor I saw if I chose lighter wood merely for that reason. I always planned on dark and never wavered, I simply love the look of them. Mine are a color called "coffee bean."

mrsb1227 - I also love the look of dark floors. But I think the upkeep would drive me insane. Your floors look really good, go really well with the wall color!

I'm with MrsB - I'm sure lighter floors are easier to keep clean looking, but the dark is the look I want.

We have light floors now and I really don't care for them. The house we're building is going to have dark floors. I also don't like them too shiny.

A friend of mine breeds dogs so she took a some hair from one of her dogs with her when she went to pick out new hardwood floors. She matched the floors to their hair color which worked well with medium cherry wood stained floors. She sweeps fairly often but knew she'd feel less frustrated if she couldn't spot every single hair on the floor as soon as it was shed.

Our floors in our FL house are really dark and show every speck of dog hair (fortunately they are only in the bedrooms, tile is elsewhere). I do love them though, they are dramatic looking. Our floors in our PA house are natural american cherry and they show MUCH less dirt. However, they scratch easily and the FL ones don't. Be sure to look at hardness of the floors, as well as color.

FL House:

PA house:

The darker floors are definitely trendy right now. I see them everywhere. I don't like them. They remind me of the dreary 70s houses we looked at when buying our first home. It was all walnut and mahogany in those days, meant to look rich, but made them look dark and old to me.

I think it may depend on your current finish work and the wood in your home. We bought a home with light maple cabinets and trim. If you are lucky enough to have the trendy white painted wood, you have more flexibility.

We did nearly our entire first floor in natural hickory. My husband wanted darker floors. I wanted lighter floors. This was a good compromise because there are variant colors in my floors. They get a lot of attention. I love them and after living with them for 9 months, I still stare at my floors for a very long time and see new patterns and detailshttps://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=268151283389553&set=pcb.268151533389528&type=1&theater.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=268151283389553&set=pcb.268151533389528&type=1&theater

Obtain/make a sample (or samples) of what you're considering and leave it on the current floor of your dirtiest room for a few weeks. Let it get dusty. Let the dog shed on it. Walk across it with wet boots. Put some light scratches in it. Take this used sample to different rooms view it in different light, on site in your new home, etc.

I've had both dark and light and every shade in between is seems. With pets & kids. And I clean my floors daily. The dark floors are ridiculously difficult to keep looking nice, and the lighter floors made every room (house) feel lighter and larger. The dark floors kind of grounded a space though, and were quite pretty. Some people like a darker, cozier space. But the work… ugh. I'd rather be washing my walls and cleaning my baseboards. It felt like an endless task to keep the dust off the dark floors. I'd finish one room and the next would be dirty again. Having a distressed or matte finish helps a bit with this. The shiny ones have been difficult to keep clean and slippery for pets, kids and older people. Shiny floors seem more formal, matte floors more casual. Just my opinion though - if your heart is set on dark wood floors, you'll regret not choosing them.

We are going with a white oak (common) matte oil finish floor in our new build and I can't wait! We had the exact same finish in one of our previous homes (a rental) an it was the loveliest floor ever. Easy to clean and pretty no matter what colors you put with it.

If you can, request some larger samples in 4 foot lengths. It helped me tremendously.

I follow the blog, Colour Me Happy, by Maria Killam and she gave great advice on choosing the color of hardwood floors in this post.

Colour Me Happy blog post

We had darker wood floors in a previous home. I would spend a lot of time cleaning them and within minutes the dust, footprints etc made them look dirty again.

This time we went with a medium color. I think it will hide dust, fur etc much better!!!

aktillery-what kind of floors are yours? I really like them!

Thanks kiwi. They are Royal Oak Cabana Brown. They are engineered. We are on a slab so had to use engineered. They are oil finished and oak. We love them too. They don't have that plastic kind of finish on them, just an uv cured oil.

I guess mine are a dark medium brown. They are harder to maintain than the lighter ones we had in our old house but not overly so. I have them throughout the first floor and the kitchen requires the most maintenance, but that's mostly because my kids are the sloppiest eaters! I do sweep twice a day in there. I only have to wet mop once a week but I run the dry mop over the whole first floor a couple times a week. The have a satin finish and when the light is low I sometimes find them a little dull. But, that finish probably hides the scratches more (we have a dog who likes to run and slide every time the doorbell rings). If I had to do it again I think I'd go one shade lighter and up the gloss one finish level…maybe.

I'm getting dark wood in the new house and can't wait. I plan on buying a rumba to keep the dirt at bay.

I didn't buy them because they are trendy (actually didn't know that was the trend) ... I love them. It's a tough decision - good luck.

Walnut gives you both light & dark!

I put dark ipe floors in our condo in a satin finish. They look gorgeous, when they've just been cleaned. The minute you walk on them you can see every speck of dust. We are now looking to build a house. While I still love the look of my floors, I hate the constant cleaning. Looking at either hickory or maple in a medium colored stain.

We have "apple wood" floors in our current house. They are cheap click in floors so I am sure you are looking for higher quality but we have enjoyed the color. We have a variety of wood finishes in the room and it looks good with all of them. Doesn't really show hair or dirt.

Mdln I really like your floors! Aktillery we refinished floors with oil and I really like that look, your floors are beautiful.

Have lived in our place for about a month now with dark espresso colored floors. Yes they show dirt, I sweep them every evening. But one thing that has helped tremendously is that we do not wear shoes in our home. I have young children and banned shoes in our home a long time ago to keep things as clean as possible since they are always playing/laying on the floor. I still love the floors and am glad I went dark.

My brother is a flooring expert and wrote a great article on this exact topic called the "Downsides to dark hardwood flooring." I would recommend checking it out. I personally love the look of dark floors, but they are definitely a little harder to clean. Additionally, when it comes to replacing a board (hopefully you don't need to) dark floors are much more difficult to work with. I find the board replace/scratch repairs topic something people overlook when considering dark floors.

I have read in design blogs that the dark floor trend is on its way out...

That's because people have learned of the downside of dark floors which has been mentioned here enough times I don't need to again.

MDLN if those floors were installed in a house I bought I wouldn't remove them, but I do prefer a consistent color instead of two-tone. I recently installed flooring at my place and had to return a bunch that did not match color. About 10% of the planks stood out too much and it was hard to try to integrate them so I chose to not use them.

I am building new home. It almost done. I have better and select grade hardwood oak with natural clear stain.

@ vith, I love the color contrast. It is one of the reasons I did unstained walnut. If anything I wish I had even more variation in areas.

I have light wood and love it. I also have a Roomba that is timed to come on every day. Makes my work so much easier.

We have very dark mahogany satin finish floors (in a light filled Florida house). The floors look beautiful and attract many compliments. My secret is my little Braava that does a wonderful and silent job of keeping them dust free! She (her name is Bridget - I know!) lives out of sight in the master closet as that would otherwise be the most dusty room in the house. I send her out from there to keep all the other hardwood floors dust free as needed, or she cleans smudges and footprints from the floors occasionally with Bona Hardwood Cleaner. We dog-share a Boxer but you would never know unless you visited right before Bridget gets to work!

Taste aside, the essential difference is the amount of light in the room. A dark floor will absorb more light. A lot depends on the windows, room orientation, porches, etc but basically it comes down to how bright you want the space to be.

Depends on the interior color scheme, you wouldn't want dark floors with dark walls or light floors with light walls. It should contrast for the greatest effect i think.

And the fact you're a masonry pro, you just "happened" to find a wall with bricks? A bit obvious?

Yes i do promote masonry and my work.

I just designed a house with oak floors stained so dark they appear at first to be painted black. The living space walls are pale gray with off white trim. The intent was to emulate the rest of the house which is a Post Medieval English Colonial Revival from the 20's.

Sorry, there's no brick anywhere on the property.

JDS, that staircase is stunning. I love the look with the contrast. Just wouldn't want to have to clean the floors. Mine right now are dark Ipe and every spot shows up.

When it comes to hardwood, trends are something to ignore! Why? Because hardwood is pretty much a lifetime purchase, and unless yours is damaged in some way, you're probably not going to replace it. So, light wood vs. dark wood, wide planks vs. narrow planks -- that stuff's all going to come and go.

With that in mind -- as well as the very real concerns about cleaning dark wood -- I'll vote for a nice, neutral midtone every time. Not too much contrast, not too red, and (unless it's a beach house) not too pale. I think this is the wood that's most likely to give you good service and stand the test of time.

JDS, I love me some stairs with contrast. Allows people to see where the stairs and risers are. Very safe. Also looks good too. I did mine similar fashion, different stain though (SW golden oak on oak) and the skirtboard is stained as well.

We have dark chocolate oak floors. When they are fresh and clean they are amazing. AMAZING! However, they are difficult to keep clean. Even when they are clean you get footprints from humans and the dog. I fantasize about having a floor fairy that comes out at night, each night and cleans my floors.

On the upside it does force up to clean the floors much more regularly than we would otherwise. As long as you know what you're getting into choose what you like.

Hi shayneabe, I really like the engineered maple flooring (smooth matte finish) that you posted in this thread about a year ago. Would you mind sharing details with me? Thanks!

I agree dark floors show everything. We have a cranberry/brown colored carpet in our living room currently and I can't wait to never have carpets ever again - I know you're talking about floors, but the dark carpet shows everything as well.

We've decided on medium/gray tone for our floors in our build (it actually looks more brown in the sample on the website, but I'm sure it looks gray depending on lighting as well):

Flint Maple smooth solid hardwood floor. Grey maple wood finish, 34 in. thick… · More Info

tpremodel,

We have Mohawk brand Rockingham 5 inch maple, Engineered. We have been very pleased with the flooring. Not too much movement between boards, few dings over time, and has survived some puppy accidents with no problem. Does not show gray dog hair and cleans up beautifully. An affordable choice.

Thanks so much! Ordering samples now...

@Green Designs - lol! I know.. an old thread, but I saw it just now "dirt colored floors".. lol!

We stressed over floors for the longest.. oh.. wait.. we still do!

heh

I think the floors, matching them, feeling happy with the balance of budget and wants.. hardest part. Not sure there is ever a good answer.

Dark floors are awesome.. but they show eeeeeverything.

Just have to knuckle down and pick one.. all we could do :P