Looking for Undertones when selecting Wood Flooring

This week, a client asked me what I meant when I'd said to her during a color consultation,

"Make sure you pick a wood flooring material that is neutral." 

She will be replacing almost all of the carpet in her home next month and wants to make her investment a wise one.  So my advice, good as it is, needs some clarification....preferably with pictures!

The backstory is that in 2002, I bought a house in Florida with almond colored ceramic tile and off-white wall-to-wall everywhere!  Pulling it all out and replacing it was our first big project....and let me tell you, they used a jackhammer on 700 square feet of that tile.  I can still hear it today!  

Bamboo was newly in style and I thought it was pretty cool, semi-tropical and environmentally friendly.  Of course, this was years before my IACC color training and I didn't know what I should be looking for when I made that choice.  

I think many homeowners hold the common misconception that Wood is a Neutral. And as a neutral, it should go with everything.  Right?  Well, after my beautiful bamboo flooring was installed, and it came time to paint my walls, I realized that the floors were yellow.  

Very yellow!  

Not that there is anything inherently wrong with yellow, but I just wasn't prepared to figure that much yellow into my color equation when decorating my home.  So, in an effort to save my clients and readers from the same surprise, I have pulled a few photos of common flooring materials and their finish colors....so you'll know what to look for when you invest in new wood floors. 

In the top row, notice how the first example looks very reddish, the second leans quite orange and the last one on the right is a bit yellow.  Remember -- what we know about wall colors and sample chips is also true of any other material used on a large surface.  When the surface area grows, so does the intensity of the color.  So, that slightly reddish tone of the Gunstock stain on the left may leave you with a room full of red.  Same goes for the orange. And you already know what happened to me with the yellow!  

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The way any material reads will depend on the lighting, what else is in the room, etc. but to be on the safe side, I always recommend choosing a floor color that doesn't suggest any particular color at all.  Notice the examples below and compare them to those above.  There is still a dark, medium, light variation going on, but without nearly as much pronounced color.  Of all three of these last samples, I think I would choose the Rich Oak.  It's not to dark, not too light and my best guess is that it's not holding any surprises!

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So, the bottom line is, choose your flooring wisely so that you:

1. Get the most out of your investment

2. Simplify your decorating choices after the floors have been installed, and

3. Ensure more flexibility in paint color by NOT putting too much color on the floors! 

I hope this was helpful and I welcome your questions and comments.  If you have a story to share -- good or bad -- about your own color choices, I'd love to hear from you!  

Dear Amy: Colors for Kitchens

I recently fielded a question at my Facebook Page about color choices in the kitchen.  It is a conversation I have with clients all the time and may be relevant to your own thinking about renovating your kitchen.  If you have your own questions, post a comment below and I'll get back to you!  Here's the question from business consultant Shalini Bahl in Amherst, MA: 


Hi Amy, 

Do you have suggestions for what color granite counters and floor tiles would go with cherry cabinets in the kitchen?


I think it is important to consider two functional aspects of tile and counter material before we even discuss color. Aesthetics are very important, but I like to figure out the "pretty" part within the context of good function, particularly in a kitchen.  The counter is the single most influential source of light (besides lighting fixtures) because it reflects light into your space from both natural and artificial sources. Therefore, I am a big proponent of lighter colored counters.  There has been a strong trend over the last 10 years toward dark stone and while I do think these are beautiful, at my age I hesitate to use them because I want/need more light to do my work. (I cook a lot and I am in my late 40's.)

I would also suggest you think about busyness in the pattern of the counters you choose. Will a very busy stone overwhelm your space? How will it feel to be chopping veggies or doing some kind of delicate work on a surface with lots of visual activity? These things are very personal...we all have to figure out where we are on this continuum of what we can tolerate with regard to sensory stimulation.  One of my decorating mantras is Decorate in the Color of Dirt. Very light floors and very dark floors should be avoided because they both show more dirt. I would suggest a mid-tone for floors, probably a few shades lighter than the cabinetry so the cherry really shines. Some kind of pattern is more forgiving than a solid field of color.

Now on to color!! What kind of colors do you have in your home now? If you are drawn to clean clear color, then an earthy colored counter/floor combo will not work as harmoniously in your environment. If you love earth tones, then warm earthy granites like Giallo Ornamental will fit right in.  There is an order one should follow when selecting materials in order to make life easier. We move from the elements with the fewest available options (usually cabinetry) to the elements that have the greatest number of options (paint colors, of which there are thousands). If you have your cabinets selected, move next to the stone. There will probably be only a dozen or so good options, while there will be a couple dozen suitable options for flooring.


So, that is a very long answer but I didn't tell you what color to choose, did I? Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to you question. I hope that my discussion about function will help you rule out some possibilities and that as you think about your existing (or desired) color scheme, that your path becomes clearer. Oftentimes, our selections are made by process of elimination...deciding what we don't like, what doesn't give us enough function, what we can't afford or can't find, etc.

If I were doing a model home with cherry cabinets and I needed to select materials that would have the widest range of appeal and maximum flexibility with wall colors, I would likely use a light granite like Santa Cecelia (or an engineered quartz for even more durability and less maintenance!) and floor tile that replicated natural slate...blues and grays with a bit of rust to pull the cherry.

I hope this has inspired you to think about what you want and need in your own kitchen. Please keep me posted on your progress. Kitchens are not easy, but the payoff is big. Good luck!