Homeowners who look at interior design trends for inspiration when remodeling their home often end up choosing to follow a few.

Of course, no one wants to incorporate a trend that will be overused and fall from grace as soon as designers stop creating hype around it. When choosing, tread carefully and go with something you know you’ll like even years in the future.

When it comes to hardwood flooring trends, a popular option—gray hardwood flooring—isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, and lighter gray floors, almost tan in color, are now leading the way. Once you see how gray hardwood flooring looks and how versatile it is, you might fall in love with it, too. Let’s have a closer look at this trend to understand why it’s so popular.

It's a Neutral Tone

Even though a lot depends on the finish and type of hardwood, most hardwood options are warm-toned, which can limit the color palette you can use for each room. However, opting for gray hardwood flooring means you have a neutral tone to work with—opening up the possibilities and complementing multiple styles of design, including  both warm and cool color palettes.

For a gray color with a brown undertone, hickory is a great choice, as you can combine it with almost any style.

It Looks Great in Modern Homes

Gray is a favorite color in modern design and a staple of the color palette that’s used often in modern homes. Being able to pair the color of hardwood floors with other elements in a room can create a great design effect and truly tie everything together. Cool-toned modern designs benefit from gray hardwood floors, although it’s always possible to add some warmth to the design if that’s what you prefer.

It's Unexpected and Unique

Despite its popularity, gray hardwood floors are still a rare sight, in the sense that people don’t expect hardwood to be gray. What’s more, a gray finish enhances the grain of the wood and makes it more visible, providing a beautiful and unique effect that people will undoubtedly notice and compliment.

You Can Go Light or Dark

In the eternal debate of light vs. dark flooring, gray hardwood floors can join either side. With a light gray floor, you’ll benefit from making the room appear more prominent and brighter, as well as ensure that dust and pet hair are less visible. However, for a more dramatic effect, you could go with dark gray. It might take a little more upkeep to keep clean, but it certainly looks impressive.

Gray hardwood flooring isn’t going out of fashion any time soon considering its versatility and unique appeal. If you’re intrigued, visit our showroom. We might have the perfect gray hardwood floor for you!

Grey isn’t usually something we associate with vibrancy and excitement – gray clouds, gray mood, gray matter, and gray hair.

Well the time has come to change your perception of gray because when it comes to hardwood flooring gray is gold. It's quickly becoming the worst kept secret in our industry - gray hardwood flooring is an excellent way to make a unique and lasting statement in your home.

There are several reasons why gray hardwood floors are literally jumping off the shelves. The process used to design the floors enhances the grain, creating a striking appearance that isn’t present in the usual brown hardwood floors. Second, they are unusual. One might think this would be a detraction but in reality many fans of gray hardwood flooring are drawn to these unique products for just that reason.

Visitors to our showroom tell me they love the look and feel of these floors so much and it’s not difficult to see why they have grown in popularity.

For amateur home decorators and family members who are taking the lead in the maintenance and improvement of their family homes gray hardwood floors offer several engaging possibilities. Because gray is a neutral tone it can serve as a beautiful backdrop, especially among warm colours like red or orange.

Grey tends to look best in maple oak and hickory and the good news is there are plenty of those available in the marketplace. Hickory is particularly popular because it is extremely hard and offers the gray color with an undertone of brown.   It is easy to tie into different colors in your home with this gray/brown look. Grey hardwood floors are an easy choice for any room in your home and can even work well in a room with bright colors, such as the dining room or guest lounge.

Are you thinking of adding a gray hardwood floor to your home? With several selections of gray to choose from our staff can help you discover a gray that will bring you confidence and make your home bounce. Don’t hesitate to stop by and learn how you can add a touch of gray to your home.

It is said a picture is worth a thousand words and so here are several thousand for you for the holidays. Merry Christmas and enjoy the hallways.

Ten years ago, if someone asked us about whitewashed hardwood flooring, we would have assumed they were talking about the very, very white floors popular in the 1980s. And we would have pointed out that this look had become pretty dated.

But over the past few years, “whitewashed” has taken on a different meaning when it comes to hardwood floors, and this style has become quite popular.

Today, homeowners are choosing whitewashed flooring that has white tones but isn’t as purely white as was popular 30 years ago. Back then, the goal was to create a “contemporary,” relatively formal look by using high-grade wood with a uniform appearance and then staining it as white as possible. Sometimes this meant staining it more than once, making it look as if was painted. Often, actual white paint was used.

Now more-transparent off-white and greyish-white colors that don’t hide the hardwood’s characteristics have become popular, and many homeowners are using lower grades of wood to achieve a more natural look. (With hardwood floors, “grade” doesn’t refer to quality; it refers to the degree in which the wood used shows the natural characteristics of its species.)

Another stylistic change is that most homeowners are no longer looking for a uniform look in the other interior design elements around their whitewashed flooring. The goal used to be to make walls, cabinets, trim, window treatments, etc. as white, or almost as white, as the flooring. Now we’re seeing customers select colors that contrast with the white tones of the flooring, sometimes going so far as to dramatically pair black with the white.

One technical consideration is that we usually use water-based polyurethane for whitewashed floors rather than our standard Swedish finish. This is to prevent the wood from taking on an amber color, which can occur with oil-based finishes. This “ambering” isn’t an issue with most floor colors, but with light whitewashed floors, it can become noticeable. (With whitewashed hardwood floors on the greyish side, we can usually use our normal oil-based finish.)

Over the years, we have finished many whitewashed hardwood floors on site, and we are experts at achieving that look. But if you’d prefer prefinished hardwood flooring, you can find good-quality prefinished products such as the Preverco Edge flooring we frequently use (pictured above).

Whichever finishing option you choose, if you want flooring that brings lightness to a room and highlights the natural characteristics of the wood, the new style of whitewashed hardwood flooring might by just what you’re looking for!

To learn more about whitewashed hardwood flooring, please visit our showroom and check out our displays. You can see for yourself how “in-style” whitewashed floors can look.

Kitchens are a great place for hardwood flooring. They’re also a perfect opportunity to use hardwood floors in conjunction with other interior design elements to create a look that’s more than the “sum of the parts.”

Kitchen cabinets are usually the most important part of achieving this enhanced appearance. The way in which they complement the flooring can establish the entire feel of the kitchen, and a good pairing can elevate the room’s beauty and unite all its features.

The traditional thinking about how to pair kitchen cabinets and hardwood floors has been to make the cabinets a shade lighter, with a similar grain pattern in the cabinet and floor. There were a lot of kitchens with dark cabinets and dark flooring!

Likewise, we saw homeowners going for a casual, “breezy” look stick to light tones in both the flooring and cabinetry.

But tastes have changed, and homeowners are being more creative than ever in using kitchen cabinets with hardwood floors. It’s now stylish to use cabinets in a way that complements the flooring but doesn’t “match” it in the traditional sense.

So we’re seeing a lot of contrasting tones, often created using paint on the cabinets. Dark cabinets and light flooring (or vice versa) have become very popular. Bright, vivid colors are sometimes used on the cabinets. And matching the wood species of the flooring and the cabinets is certainly not a priority for most people.

Sure, we still get people looking to match design elements—such as installing cabinets with an antique look to match reclaimed hardwood flooring. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the traditional idea of matching the cabinetry colors with that of the flooring. It’s all a matter of taste

But whatever that taste is, the cabinets in the kitchen will play a major role in displaying it. They’re a lifelong partner with the flooring in creating the look you’re after.

We’re happy to talk with you about how the hardwood flooring in your kitchen will relate to the cabinetry. Please stop by our showroom or give us a call at 920.984.3383 or 800.354.9902 to schedule an appointment or start a conversation.

As we get into 2015, we’re seeing the continued momentum of several hardwood floor trends that have become evident over the past several years.

Very dark hardwood floors

Really dark floors are an increasingly popular choice among homeowners who want a formal feel. Some people are even choosing black floors created using naturally black species such as Wenge. While not black, other species (e.g., American Black Walnut) have a natural dark color. And species that aren’t dark enough can be stained dark. Some species will never be ideal for a very dark look, but we can stain any wood (but not bamboo) as dark as desired.

Greyish colors

While many homeowners desire the striking appearance of dark hardwood floors, many others are going in the opposite direction—selecting grey, off-grey, or even white floors. As with the dark floors, this coloring can be achieved with the natural color of certain species (e.g., European White Oak) or through staining. The lighter coloring appeals to homeowners who want an open, breezy, casual ambiance.

Wider boards

Twenty years ago, the standard width of hardwood floor planks was just over 2” wide. Now, boards wider than 5” are common, and we’re seeing more and more homeowners go very wide with planks that are greater than 7”. These wider boards create a more casual feel than narrower planks.

Lower sheen levels

High-sheen floors have come to be seen as “plastic looking” in many people’s eyes, and so they’re selecting low-sheen floors that don’t have much reflection. Lower-sheen floors also don’t show wear and tear as much as high-sheen floors—an additional advantage that attracts active families with children and/or pets.

Floors that look timeworn

Seeking an authentic, character-filled appearance, a growing number of homeowners are choosing to have their floors wire-brushed, hand-scraped, or distressed to add texture that creates a “lived-in” look. The amount of texture can vary from just a little all the way up to deep scrapes and purposeful “damage” (e.g., nail holes).  The goal in all cases is to make the floors look as if they’ve stood the test of time—like an antique piece of furniture.

Conclusion

The trends largely point toward a more casual look with hardwood flooring, but as the recent popularity of very dark flooring shows, not all trends move in lock step. Sheen is another example of mixed trends—while here in Wisconsin we’re seeing great interest in low-sheen flooring, along the East Coast high-sheen, blonde flooring is growing in popularity.

One thing that’s certain is that while hardwood floor trends will come and go, hardwood floors aren’t at all trendy. Hardwood floor preferences may change, but hardwood flooring has proven over centuries that it will always be in style.

Last month, my wife and I took a “color trip” around the state, checking out all the wonderful fall foliage that was just reaching its peak.

As we expected, it was an enjoyable, relaxing time. We delighted in the crisp fall air, took photos of the colorful landscapes, and were reminded of how beautiful Wisconsin can be.

The red, orange, and yellow leaves create a color palette that truly thrills the eyes. As the president of Ralph’s Hardwood Floor Co., I feel particularly attuned to this play of colors. I’m always focused on color because color variety is one of the great things about hardwood floors.

At Ralph’s, we’re constantly helping our customers find the perfect color for their taste, décor, and interior design. It’s not the specific colors of fall that get me excited—it’s the way the colors relate to each other, enhancing each other’s beauty. A hardwood floor’s color can work together with the colors in the rest of a room in just the same way.

What if all the leaves on trees turned yellow, and there were no reds or oranges? It sure wouldn’t be as visually interesting. It wouldn’t be much different than during the summer, when all the leaves are the single color green.

By choosing a hardwood floor color that complements or smartly contrasts with other color tones in a room, homeowners can make a room come to life! Walls, furniture, window dressings, accessories—they can all be coordinated with hardwood floor color for a marvelous effect.

The choice of hardwood floor colors is virtually unlimited. Floors can be brown, tan, beige, black, grey, white—you name it. The color can come from the wood’s natural color, or from staining. 

Some hardwoods—such as maple, hickory, and many exotic species—naturally have considerable color variation within the wood itself. This variation helps the floor become the highlight of any room!

Another wonderful thing about hardwood floor colors is how rich they are.  They have a naturalness, depth, and splendor that’s lacking in the color of other types of flooring.  

The fall colors are gone now, but homeowners who have made good use of hardwood floor color in their homes can continue to relish the visual excitement of appealing color interactions all year long.

Photo courtesy of GSankary, Indy Kethdy. Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.