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Dark Trim & Lighter Natural Hardwood Flooring - Would This Work??

14 years ago

We are in the midst of building our home and wanted to know if having dark trim around the windows, doors, and floorboards would work with lighter natural hardwood floors?

We are thinking of going with an Ash or Hickory hardwood floor as we really like the different color variations these two provide. With the color variations I am thinking it may contrast well with the dark trim but I am no expert and would love some advise.

Please let me know your thoughts and if anyone has some pictures of this, could you please provide them. I've said before, my wife and I are visual people o this would help out tremendously.

Thanks.

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Comments (4)

susanelewis
14 years ago
I would match the trim to the darkest color variation in the hardwood. They need to blend nicely and a completely different color on your trim than what it in the floor (to me) would look odd. JMHO
susanelewis
14 years ago
As an addendum, if you use paint on the trim, this way of thinking changes. White trim looks striking against the warm brown tones of a floor. There is no competition for blending...just a crisp clean look in the contrast.
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Yes, I've seen very nice examples. IMO, looks best when the "dark" trim is matched to the darkest striation in the flooring. Take a bit of the finished flooring, and then play with stains until the trim is the same shade as the darkest streak in the flooring. Hickory often has considerable contrast, and would probably let you use a very, very dark trim.
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We often field requests to make dark floors light, and vice versa, mainly from people who have bought a new home and don't want to replace the floor. In this situation we sand the floor to the desired color. Your bevels appear to be so small that many will sand out leaving a flat floor. Before applying the final coat of finish we coat the remaining dark bevels with paint tinted to match the floor color as closely as possible. It may take a couple of coats of paint to cover all of the old color. It can't be done until after a form filming finish coat is applied so floor can be worked over without damaging it. As with your current color, you don't see the end color until after the first coat of clear is applied. If you're the type of person that would be disturbed by small lines of paint that match the floor color, you can possibly have all the bevels sanded out or replace the floor.
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idrive65
14 years ago
I don't have a pic but that was the combo (very dark trim with natural floors) in my very 70's previous house, so I'm biased against it.
dehutch
14 years ago
I think it would look fine but your not going to know for sure until it's up. You say your in the midst of building your home so is the trim already up and stained? I personally would choose the hardwood flooring I wanted (make sure it's the hardest of the ones you like) because the floor is the bigger deal. Trim and doors can be changed,stained,painted. You can experiment with what looks good, then do the rest to match. If you don't already have the trim and doors up just remember that they'll be the same in every room so you'll want to consider the type of floors your going to have throughout the house.

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