Never fear, lovers of dark hardwood floors; your favorite style remains safe for another season. While many things come in and out of vogue, the colors of nature never do. That's the category of colors to which hardwood flooring belongs. Let's examine the wood floor color trends 2023 offers and how they impact current construction and renovation projects.
Hardwood Floor Colors 2023
Those who adore pale, dark, and honey-colored wood have options among the "it" colors of 2023. Interior designers came through for everyone this year with an option for hardwood in every color scheme.
Pale White and Cream Hardwoods
On the lighter side of design, the minimalist design trend continues, bringing with it pale hardwood floors like bleached oak and pale pine lead the way in naturally light-colored hardwoods.
This color trend doesn't appear only on floors. Many interior designers also use it on walls as the backdrop for built-in bookcases or an accent wall of planks.
Other ways to get this pale color for your flooring include whitewashing naturally light wood. Although you can't change wood as dark as walnut or ebony into a pale color, if your floors initially received a stain that colored them to a light oak shade, stripping them will enable you to whitewash them to the pale color currently popular.
Honey-Colored Hardwoods
Homes for centuries featured floors the shade of honey, which is now one of the top colors this year. An ideal complement to the maximalist décor trend, this mid-toned brown works well with any furniture, whether dark wood or pale, glass or metal.
When you choose a honey-toned wood, you provide your home with timeless appeal. This flooring color won't ever go out of style. Like penny loafers or khakis, it provides a foundation that goes with anything.
Like the method described for whitewashing existing flooring, you can also recolor lighter wood to the popular honey color. Remove the old varnish with stripper solution or by sanding, then re-stain them to the honey color.
Walnut Has Its Heyday
More than just a tree that grows a tasty nut, the dark, dense walnut tree produces some of the finest hardwood planks once milled. Known for its natural chocolaty color, walnut flooring graces mansions and castles, and it could become the flooring in your home. Despite its heady resume, walnut planks are affordable, so you could install the flooring kings and queens traipsed on for centuries.
If you can't find walnut or want to keep the flooring you've got, try a stain that transforms your existing flooring into a dark wonder. Espresso, black stain, or varnish offers a similar look without replacing the boards.
What went out of style this year?
At least for 2023, gray hardwood fell out of favor. The ashy option doesn't jibe with this year's design trends. Don't fret, though, because design proves cyclical, so your room with gray floors will eventually return to its cosmopolitan nature. For now, orange and yellow tones, typically found in oak, also dropped off the radar.
How have homeowners made hardwood floors look different?
This year's trends are more unique. More than your chosen colors, it boils down to what you do with them. Installing wood designs has become a popular option. This creates visual interest using the flooring and expresses the homeowner's personality.
What's popular? Diagonal designs, chevrons, herringbones, and original designs all top the list of home improvements made by homeowners. Parquet flooring offers an exciting option that you can install using traditional methods or modern ones. The traditional method provides more creativity in laying a pattern, but the modern method lets you put down a floor much faster.
Does dark hardwood offer anything unique in 2023?
If you want to update your flooring with something new and different but also wish to show your environmentally conscious nature, try reclaimed wood! This sustainable option comes in every color of naturally occurring wood. Although pine proves most common due to its use in early American barns, many options exist.
Mixing materials also entered favor this year. Use two different kinds of wood or mix dark hardwood with a light tile, whether ceramic or mosaic.
Color Trends of Other Flooring
Since mixing materials became popular, knowing what to use this season makes sense, especially if you want to do something different as you ready your home for sale. Here's a quick review of what interior designers favor this year.
Tile and marble rule the roost as the top non-wood materials. Within those two options, marble mosaics and tile in hexagons, porcelain penny, or basket weave patterns prove the most popular.
The gray that designers didn't use this year in wood appears in other materials, including checkerboard tile in combinations of gray and black or white and black. Transform the appearance of your entry hall or mudroom with dark gray or black slate flooring.
The world of flooring does still offer color. Work colored Zellige tile in blue or green into your unique flooring design.
Shopping for High-Quality Hardwood Flooring
Shop at From The Forest to find the highest quality hardwood flooring available. Whether you want new walnut or reclaimed barn wood, find it at From The Forest. We also offer engineered hardwoods and laminate products in tongue and groove or click-and-lock options.
When you follow a trend, make it in a timeless way, like installing a dark hardwood floor. Dark hardwood floors will continue to trend in 2023, so take the best care of your floors with cleaning and scratch repair supplies, also available at From The Forest.