Wood floors for small spaces... what the best color and plank size?

Stephanie Bigelow

5 years ago

Redoing a 600 square foot studio apartment - want the best options for hardwood floors.

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Comments (3)

miss lindsey (She/Her)
5 years ago
I always think that a mid-tone natural wood colour is the best option for staying power. Right now I like plank width of 4-6".

That being said, a lot depends on the style of the house. In a 1950's era building 3" wide oak would be appropriate. In a building from the 1800s much wider, silvery grey oak would be amazing. We had a room in our previous home that was 15x25' and the floor was natural doug fir, 8" wide boards that spanned the entire width of the room, so every board was 15' long. It looked fantastic and was the first thing new visitors commented on.
Helen
5 years ago
I am remodeling and going with a fairly thin light floor - My space is larger than your space but still not expansive.

My decorator's advice is that wide planks in small spaces look oversized but in the end, it's a personal aesthetic decision. I was looking for an innocuous floor anyway since I didn't want my floors to be the star - I have a lot of nice wood cabinetry being installed as well as beautiful area rugs as well as furniture that is making some what of a statement in terms of both color, pattern and style :-)
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I failed to mention in my original post that the wood we're considering is an engineered wood, so I don't think warping or cupping would be a problem. ?? But what are your thoughts on that? Do most of you have solid wood? We live in Indiana where we have drastic cold/hot temperature variations, and I don't want to see gaps in my wood floors. But I prefer the idea of solid wood for long-term care and refinishing. Aside from that issue, I'm still grappling with what would LOOK best! This is a small simple little house, and after coming from a big rather grand house, I think I'm trying to make the smaller house feel really 'grand' too. :-) I want something to distinguish it...a classy look. But maybe I should do that through the furnishings and decorating rather than the floor. Sometimes I try too hard to be 'different' or unique.....that isn't always the best approach. Do you understand what I mean? :-) Thanks for any advice!
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Perpendicular from the DOOR. The last photo in your latest post shows the planks sitting perpendicular (running "across" the threshold) is the less attractive way to do this. The OTHER thing to take into consideration is DIRECTION OF NATURAL LIGHT. Assuming your home has the same type of windows/natural lighting, you want to run the planks in the same direction as the source of natural light (windows). That means the long beams of light will be the same direction as the long length of the floor planks. Your last photo shows the OPPOSITE to what I'm pointing out. I would run the long length of the plank from the DOOR to the bottom of the stairs (the opposite to what your last photo shows). Going back to your original plans, that means the LONG LENGTH of the plank will start at the door and run AWAY to the back of the home (past the stairs and into the great room). And all the rooms will keep this direction. It will mean the flow of natural lighting is maintained with the direction of the plank - a double bonus.
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Elle
5 years ago
You could really go light, medium, or dark but medium would give you the most flexibility to go light or dark with everything else. A standard vs. wide width plank would make the flooring look nicely to scale.

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Wood floors for small spaces... what the best color and plank size?

Comments (3)

miss lindsey (She/Her)

Helen

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