How to Decorate Dark Walls Around Light Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors come in many colors and can have different highlights coming through the wood. Some are pale with a white, beige and even pink hue in the wood. Working this out before hand can make your decorating that much easier. Each one reflects a different light and color and you want to factor that into your decor.

Drama filled room with light floors and red sofa – Mad About The House

Dark Furniture

Matching your light floor with light colored furniture might seems like a safe choice but you may want to avoid this. When you match all the wood, the room can feel a little boring and even flat.

Dark walls light baseboards – AD

Adding different styles, wood tones and materials looks more appealing, adding individuality and charm. When you mix a range of finishes, you add visual depth and interest. Suddenly, pieces pop with their color, texture, charm and beauty.

Light hardwood floors and dark moody walls – Pinterest

Layering different wood finishes creates a more substantial, interesting feeling. Older pieces look beautifully aged, and work well in an eclectic, boho-chic look, so don’t toss them because they are not new. The different grains, stains and shades and styles looks fresh and adds a new dimension to your rooms.

Dark Walls and Artwork

Texture, artwork and gold frames – DIYdeas

Dark walls crave for mirrors and artwork that are bright and light, ready to reflect light and interrupt stretches of dark colors. Large art pieces, gold framed or frameless, or a gallery of grouped prints, appear to float on the wall, creating different points of interest around the room.

They add character, even if they’re not your ancestors – Apartment Therapy

If you have too many dark framed pieces, switch them out or remove the frames. You want to create a contrast against the dark walls and not add to it.

Mirrors

Never ignore mirrors in rooms with dark walls. Mirrors reflect light across a room, making it feel bigger and brighter. Hanging a large mirror on dark walls helps to keep the room feeling light, reflecting your light hardwood floors.

Large round mirror – Instagram

Metallic frames, smaller mirrors and mirrors of different styles and shapes all help to add more light and interest to your rooms.

Textiles

Texture everywhere – floors, walls, sofas – instagram

There are lots of ways to create features and warmth in these rooms. One way is to add texture and color. Light colored, rich tapestries, rugs and macrame all add contrast beautifully against dark walls and light floors. It can be woven, patterned, new, modern, vintage, in deep greens, blues, mustard yellow or floral.

Be creative and stretch silk, an old rug or interesting fabric and frame it for your wall.

Add Rugs

Add a hanging plant feature – Jessica Paster

Plush rich, Chinese or Turkish area rugs in different patterns or colors are perfect to create a focal point in your rooms. They help to naturally create zones within a room. Monochrome area rugs with a lot of pattern or texture add a sculptured look to any light hardwood floor.

Rug on light wood floor – Vogue France

Crown and Base Molding

Light ceiling and baseboards – Pinterest

In most cases you can use a light contrasting color for you crown and base molding. If you have very low ceilings you might decide to avoid crown molding all together.

Dark walls with white – light base boards – Pojocraft

Lighting

Dark walls need soft, subtle lighting, or even pink bulbs, near the wall. You often need more task lighting, and track lighting tends to cast a very strong light.