Anyone own dark hardwood floors?

[The Bad Guy]

Well, the time has come to pick the flooring for the new house. I've always loved dark hardwood floors and was determined to get them.

However, I've heard a lot of conflicting reviews about the maintence and how dirty they can look.

So we decided on a lighter wood but now the wife is back to saying she wants the dark. We ordered the lighter, but can switch.

Does anyone own dark wood floors? Do you regret the decision?

Here are the 2 we are between. Would appreciate some feedback as to what one you would pick.

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/cat...=0&storeId=213

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/cat...=0&storeId=213

[Ceej]

A lot of the remodel/home magazines have been mentioning espresso/ebony flooring is what will be "in" in 2011. That may be true, but those are high maintenance floors. Also, to clear up the density of bamboo --- LL does carry bamboos that are the same hardness as red oak, 15% harder than red oak and over 100% than red oak (strand bamboos). BG also went with a more rustic, distressed bamboo..meaning any sort of scratch, nick, or ding will just add more character to the floor. I hope the LL crew you dealt with answered all of your questions and were helpful.

[Joe Seahawk]

We used Tigerwood, although it may be too "busy" for some peoples taste we absolutely love it. It has darkened a bit since we installed it last spring and looks even better now. We wanted a darker wood with no stain, The tigerwood we used is natural with a clear finish. We feel like a clear finish is much easier to conceal minor scratches etc..

We used pre finished 3/4" and installed it ourselves.

Good luck!

[WV]

When I was looking at bamboo floors the darker colors were "softer" because of the coloring process.

[Ceej]

Bamboos come in three different styles. Horizontal, vertical and stranded/woven. The stranded/woven regardless of color/style are significantly harder than the other two.

Just depends which bamboos you were looking at.

[The Bad Guy]

CJ,

We are getting the stranded/woven bamboo from Lumber Liquidators. We changed our mind and went with the dark. We'll have to sweep the kitchen anyway and will have some area rugs in the living room.

I know it might be a maintence nightmare, but forever my wife and I have loved the look of the dark.

[ChiefGator]

The darker does look better in those pictures. The lighter wood's dark spots sort of add an unevenness, or dirtiness, to them, even when clean. I would go uniformly lighter or go the dark.

Take a picture when you are done and add it on here...

[Earthling]

Ghosts like the dark so keep that in mind.

[NaptownChief]

I've found they only look dirty when they are dirty.

In my last house I put in a 5 inch wide natural peruvian cherry and really liked that...since it was natural the colors varied in each plank and some light and some dark. It was great for blending my dark cherry furniture with a house that had lighter oak baseboards and kitchen cabinets. I liked it a bit better than the darker walnut color on the floors in my new house.