Posts

Household Color to Go with Hardwood

/in /by

Unless you’re going with a completely eclectic design, decorating your interior living space is all about adhering to a theme (and indeed, eclectic designs can be considered a theme in of themselves). Many times, a theme has a lot to do with color: the floors, the paintings, the furniture, and so on. So with that in mind, what are the best color options to match your hardwood flooring with your walls? In this article, we will talk about the easiest and best ways to make your living space really mesh between the walls and floors.

The great thing about wood, other than its elegance and its ease of maintenance, is that there is a wide abundance of colors to choose from. There is no such thing as a “standard” color of wood floor: you can pick from a wide variety of tree species, undertones, and stains. Indeed, there are so many options that it can even be overwhelming when trying to match a floor to a wall, but that’s what we’re here for!

The simplest thing you can do to coordinate color between the floor and wall is to pick a neutral tone of paint for the walls. Virtually any color of wood pairs nicely with a neutral wall (white is a very popular option). Even mixed wood floors will do well when put against a neutral background, allowing you a bit of creative freedom when it comes to installation. If you’re worried about the space not having enough personality, throw in some colorful furniture and/or rugs to make it vibrant.

For some people, however, neutral colors are boring. So many people have white or similarly-colored walls, so perhaps you want to break the mold and do something off-kilter. Perhaps you should consider choosing a wall shade comparable to your floorboards. If your wood has golden or reddish undertones going for it, paint your walls a warm color as a complement. Orange flooring pairs nicely with rust-colored or terracotta walls, and rich, red woods look gorgeous next to a wine or burgundy paint. Pair gray or ashen woods with cool colors like blue or green.

Now, what if you want to take it one step farther and go for an off-the-wall, bold look? That’s simple, as well: play up the contrast. Find out what shade of wood you have, look opposite the color wheel, and bam, there’s the color of your walls. As an example, if your wood has a warm color like orange or gold, paint the walls a cool blue or gray. Both surfaces end up popping when you go with such a paint scheme, so don’t be afraid to experiment!

What colors do you like on your walls?

Image Credit

The Best Time to Refinish Your Floors

/in /by

hardwood refinish

Ideally, you have your hardwood floors refinished before you actually move into the home. The reasons are simple: number one, you can’t walk on the floors the entire time they’re being refinished, number two, you need to move all of the furniture out of the space before it gets done, and three, it usually costs less since you can conceivably do it all in one go.

However, not everyone has the luxury of not already living in the home they are trying to refinish. If you must get this project done while you are actually living in the home, here are some things to keep in mind:

  • You can sand and refinish at any point during the year as long you keep the indoor temperature between 65 and 75 degrees.
  • During the hot summer months, especially August, the drying process for the refinishing can take longer. This is largely due to the humidity that summer brings with it. Of course, if you can vacate the home for a week or two, then it shouldn’t make that much of a difference anyways.
  • The biggest mistake that people make when scheduling their floor refinishings is not allowing enough time for it to be done. Refinishing an entire home can take anywhere from 7 to 9 days before you can put furniture back onto the floors. This process takes even longer if you have to have carpet removed or a lot of furniture taken out of the space.

Because of the last reason, make sure you are planning well in advance when to get this whole process done. If you’re moving into a new home, plan on staying in your old home for an additional week or so. If necessary, you can also delay the moving of all of your furniture and crash in the basement until the project is complete.

If you absolutely must be living in the home while scheduling a refinishing, no worries: just be aware that it will likely take more time and cost you a bit more inconvenience. Best of luck!

Image Credit

Changing the Color of Your Hardwood Floors

/in /by

stainD

Have you ever taken a look at your hardwood floors and wished that you could change their color? Or perhaps you’re looking into buying a house, but you want the hardwood to be darker or lighter than the current floor is? Good news: you may not have known, but when you refinish a hardwood floor, you can absolutely change the color of it! It doesn’t matter if you’re going light to dark, dark to light, or anywhere in between: if you can sand and refinish your floors, you can change the color of them.

The process for sanding and refinishing is simpler than you might think. This first step is to purchase or rent a sanding machine and sand down the floor that you are refinishing. Do about three sandings, moving from coarse grit down to your finest grit for best results. This should give your hardwood a smooth surface that will readily accept any stain that you add. Your floor should look basically like brand-new hardwood once you’re done.

With that step out of the way, now it’s time to choose your stain. There are many, many different options ranging all different colors, so try picking out a couple of choices and testing them on your own floors first. This is an essential step because every floor is different and may take different colors differently than another. You may be hesitant to stain over a large area if you’re just testing it out, but we can assure you that this will give you the best visuals and is well worth the time spent.

The last step is to add two to three coats of polyurethane. This coating will take about 24 hours per layer to dry, assuming you’re using an oil base (water based polyurethane dries faster but isn’t as durable). Make sure that after every coat application, you buff the floors in order to smooth them out and help the polyurethane last longer. 90-95% of people select a satin finish for their hardwood, but don’t let that stop you from checking out some of the other choices: you can look at matte, gloss, and semi-gloss, as well!

Image Credit