Dark hardwood floors have been popular for several years now and that popularity doesn’t appear to be waning.  This bodes well for someone installing a new hardwood floor as they don’t have to worry that the choice of a darker shade will eventually go out of style.  For those installing a solid hardwood floor, it’s also important to realize that if you become unhappy with the darker shade, you can always strip the floor down and restore it with another colour.  If you’re ready to take the plunge on a dusky shade, we’ve put together a list of three dark hardwood flooring colours to consider.

Black

Black is as dark as you can go – and it’s become one of the more popular shades of dark hardwood flooring.  As they say, everything matches with black, so it makes furnishing and painting that much easier.  Black floors can make your furniture and appliances really pop.  Some people worry that a black floor will make the room look smaller, but this can be easily counteracted with contrasting colours and lighter shades around the edges of the room.

Ebony

Ebony is both a colour and a type of wood.  And while real ebony wood is now endangered, there are substitutes, such as Brazilian ebony, which give you a somewhat similar look and feel.  Real ebony is dark brown to jet black and is incredibly strong.  But due to its rarity, getting a similar look and feel is often accomplished by staining another durable wood such as oak or hickory.  This will greatly reduce the price as well as be much easier to work with.

Mahogany

Mahogany is much lighter than black or ebony but is still considered a darker flooring material.  Shades can run from a deep brown-red to dark brown.  As it’s exposed to sunlight it will darken even more.  Mahogany is also a very hard and durable wood which makes it resistant to scratching and warping.  If there is a drawback to the colouring of mahogany it’s the fact that it will change over time.  If this poses a problem, it’s possible to use different types of wood with a stain or a similar colour scheme, such as khaya or sapele.