When we bought our new house, I reluctantly decided to refinish the hardwood floors. They were white oak but the stain had a too warm violet/red tone and they were too dark.
I wanted them to be a timeless, medium brown. More golden brown than red. They turned out beautifully and I’m so glad we did it.
If you look closely, you’ll notice we didn’t refinish the steps. We would have had to take the staircases off in order to do it efficiently and upon exploring that option, we were told it would weaken them to take them off and on. They would have to be done by hand so I painted them a high gloss black to relate to the existing staircase and there was black in the leopard carpet I chose so it worked perfectly in the end.
It meant that we could add matching herringbone wood floors to replace the builder boring 12 by 24 inch taupe tile that was in the entry.
Lucy loves these steps; her favourite spot is right in the middle, where she can lean comfortably against the wall and enjoy a clear view out the windows all the way down the driveway.
By the way, ONLY men comment and compliment my leopard stairs, it’s an interesting phenomenon.
Timeless wood floors
I’ve always said that natural wood tones, whether they are light natural oak or maple, or medium brown right up to rich walnut, are timeless. That excludes stains that are exaggerated orange, red, burgundy or gold, on the warm side, or cool taupe, grey or black on the cool side.
Especially when it comes to floors. You want your wood floors to look like they have always been there, right as rain. NOT like they were obviously installed in the grey trend or the too warm looks of the 80s and 90s.
You’ll want to pick up my Timeless Wood Floor Guide if you need to choose flooring for sure!
Wood vanity
For our new primary bathroom, I chose a medium brown stain for our oak vanity to relate to the hardwood floors and pick up the copper brown penny tile detail in the bathroom floor.
Deeper wood tones are trending
When we were at High Point Market this spring, we noticed walnut wood tones absolutely everywhere. There were still some white oak pale pieces, but rich deep wood was the overall story. Like in this dining nook vignette at Taylor King.
And we’ve had a number of requests for walnut cabinets and vanities in our eDesign department recently. So the trend is definitely in full swing.
We saw it in Joanna Gaines Lakehouse a few years back (below).
Magnolia Home
Deep walnut often has a mid century nostalgic feel, and you can see it in this highly publicized kitchen for sure. Notice the wood pulls and square backsplash tile in the pantry.
Similarly, we’ve been seeing walnut and cherry with marble for bathrooms like this one below.
Walnut has always been on the deep and rich end of what I consider to be timeless for wood tones, and I often recommend it. What keeps deep wood toned cabinetry, whether in bathrooms or kitchens, looking timeless and beautiful, is crisp white hard finishes for balance. We all got the ick from heavy, over woody designs of the brown trend when homeowners and builders chose to keep the hard finishes dark and earthy too. No balance or contrast was the issue.
While I love my rich wood vanity and medium brown timeless wood floors, an all deep wood toned kitchen or bathroom can quickly feel heavy and dark. Personally, I would stick to more white or cream in the overall balance like in my own bathroom.
But I’m really curious to know. What do you think? Are you into yummy rich wood tones suddenly? Maybe you always have been? Please let me know in the comments!
If you would like help planning your next renovation, check out my eDesign packages here!
Related Posts
Ask Maria: Will my Cherry Kitchen work with a Cognac Leather Sofa?
Huge fan of dark woods. When I redecorated in 2018 we went with gray floors (yes I know…) but balanced with dark almost cherry woods and white marble finishes. 7 years later I’m starting to think about repainting, to lighten the walls, but am still very happy with the hard surfaces.
Dark timber… In moderation…. Provides a lovely contrast. We bought 13 years ago a dark reclaimed timber dining table by a top furniture company in their sell off of prototype furniture and it still looks so amazing. We then put some oiled brass or similar pendant lights above it or in the kitchen and looks stunning in both houses. New house requires some console tables and sideboards I’m planning on walnut for those. I think as long as the lines of the furniture is good we’ll be happy.
My father is a woodworker so I’ve always appreciated many woods including walnut – but I think these big bold applications of it are fit to feel dated, like very 2025 a few years out. It’s often more expensive than other wood finishes, and can be so heavy and light-sucking when applied in bulk like this. I think the only spot this kind of wood feels truly timeless is in a home office/library/study type vibe. I adore it as a colour but would opt for furniture – and make my peace with the possibility of regretting an expensive spend on it later. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m eyeing a walnut dining table and failing to follow my own advice.)
One thing that’s great is that it tends not to age into an ugly colour direction, IMO. All the mid century teak can go so orange, and oak can go red or yellow or even green, but walnut tends to stay a lovely rich mellow mid brown. It might darken but it won’t turn a colour that fights undertones as easily.
For floors, everyone says it shows dust way more easily than something more mid tone. You probably could’ve gotten away with leaving your floors the way they were because they coincide with the current trend, but I do think your choice to refinish made them more timeless.
By the way, I’m coming from this as someone with a really different aesthetic than Maria has. Her interior design style doesn’t usually align with mine, but I still think her advice about hard finishes and timeless colours and undertones is always spot on, so even if the rooms/styles/vibes that make your heart sing don’t look like the ones Maria designs, I still think this one is worth following! (Not a professional designer, just a really opinionated consumer who has been reading this and other design blogs for years.)
I also have a different aesthetic than Maria, but I agree with avoiding trends. We can always change the paint colors and fabrics to scratch that itch, but a backsplash is a mess to change out. I would have left those floors alone, too, because you’re always going to put down rugs that cover a lot of the visual space. It’s not worth the cost.
Thank you for pointing out that what makes it work is the balance with the white hard finishes. Gems of knowledge like this (that the rest of us wouldn’t otherwise see) make your instruction gold. You are changing in the industry with this, and with your neutral system. Let’s replace endless wasteful remodeling with timeless beauty everywhere!
I am not attracted to looks that I perceive as a throw back to earlier decades and dark wood with pale marble feels like an unwelcome heavy throwback to me. I also wish that “walnut” was not used to refer to a stain color as well as the name for a wood that could be any color. But I’m am all here for medium brown wood tones, in a modern style.
I love the rich warmth of the darker woods. I also find it an easy offset to oak. I’ve always been all in on the darker woods. Also, that saved me from ever defaulting to cool gray walls anywhere.
I’ve refinished every piece of solid wood furniture I have picked up over the years. I usually mix my own stain color from General Finishes but I lean into the walnuts, jacobean, espressos. For a quick bath reno, I did walnut to tie in my walnut dining table, and refinished my pool table to complement.
I prefer darker brown hardwood floors and I’m not afraid to clean my floors everyday to have the look that is pleasant to my eyes.
When I redid my stair bannister railing (previously honey orange oak) I had to blend a color that was offset from the existing oak hardwood floors but complemented my furniture.
As long as it’s not poo brown or honey oak, I’m in.
I like dark woods and have quite a few pieces in my house, but the overall feeling of the rooms is balanced—not necessarily with white, but with lighter colors. That is key, as you say. Trends are of very little interest to me. The silver grey and white tile in our main bathroom was installed five years before the grey trend began, because I like how it looks and the grey is balanced with lots of white tile and white walls. I wonder whether the main problem with interior trends is the “if some is good, more will be better” approach.
Well said!
I love walnut but only use it in furniture where I think it looks very nice with both my midtone brown floors and white cabinetry and trim. In cabinetry it’s too much dark and heavy for me.
Forget the dark woods, I’m intrigued by the comment that ONLY men like your leopard stairs, LOL. Please say more!
I noticed that comment, too. I think it’s that women are the big move for wood stair treads today, but men like the feel of carpet underfoot. I also prefer carpeted stairs, even if you just do a runner. Wood stairs are slippery, and I think they can be an opportunity for some fun, like the leopard carpet. In a previous house, I did a floral loop carpet on the stairs even though the rest of the house was wood floors. Carpeted stairs are much safer!
My first thought was that men are more likely to be hunters! Personally, even though animal fur designs are beautiful, I am averse to any animal print in clothing or furnishings because they represent an animal that has been killed simply to provide decoration. But that’s just me. I expect I’m in the minority.
I feel the same way! Even when the “animal print” is in a color not actually seen on animals. I like animal prints on animals.
I’ve never seen a trend come in so hard and fast as the white oak, and it’s also going out quickly too… Interior decorating is almost becoming fast fashion with how quickly we are oversaturated with the latest trend.
Amen. It’s giving me whiplash. 😆
Yikes – the wood coffered (?) walls in that bathroom will require a ladder to dust?? Seem impractical and too much heaviness; I for sure prefer lots of light colours with wood placed strategically.
Maria – in ur foyer, 2 directions of the herringbone seem lighter-coloured; is that just lighting or is there something homeowners should watch for when installing / staining herringbone?
Re: dusting – also the first thing I think of for any interior design. That bathroom looks pretty luxurious though, so I figure the maid will take care of it…
I love a medium rich walnut don’t like it with a stark white but do like it with a SW alabaster white
Walnut looks good with white Oak to me .
I do love white Oak wood flooring .
Find them easier to care for than darker wood on the floor .
Design is definitely changing into lots of color , more wood and darker wood .
Lots of color drenching .
I saw some pictures where now they are taking one material like wood or tile and using just that in a space .
I can see that going wrong real fast .
And can’t see that trend lasting .
Growing up in an historic home in England with centuries old panelling we had Jacobean oak furniture and off white walls. Now in a country home in western Canada I continue to enjoy high contrast decor and have always embraced what I love, not what is the latest trend. So I guess our home is now “current” again, despite not being changed significantly over the years, except for fresh paint etc. Solid wood furniture in dark walnut will always have a place in my home and contrasts nicely with my rustic pine country kitchen.
Thank for you all the resources you so generously provide Maria. My taste is vastly different to yours but I’ve learned so much reading your posts and ebooks, and from your readers’ comments. What a great community!
I absolutely love alabaster walls with rich wood antique furniture. It’s a classic without being overwhelmingly Victorian.
I LOVE your stairs, Maria…and, I am NOT a man! Men compliment the animal print because it’s sexy : )
Isn’t that the truth!
As a home staging consultant, I have seen what years and water do to wood finished cabinets in kitchens and baths. Not a fan.
I like antique furniture, so I have lots of dark and rich toned wood in my house. I prefer a lighter floor and painted cabinets though. I’m a color person, so while wood can be nice it’s not the star for me.
Yes to rich wood tones! Love the warmth and depth. I’m in the process of a new build (and thankfully a friend shared your blog at the start, which has been absolutely invaluable) & we chose walnut kitchen cabinets (with creamy white uppers on one wall) and white quartz countertops with natural light oak wide plank flooring. Woodworking has been a hobby of my husband’s for decades and he has one hard and fast rule: Wood Shall Not Be Stained – no color added and none taken away (a la what is currently referred to as “white oak”). So that means we had to consider the natural tones and qualities of each species of wood, which flummoxed our builder, cabinet maker, and flooring contractor – “everybody stains wood!” When it came time to choose flooring, every sample of wood flooring available to us locally was stained, so they had to order samples that weren’t stained for us just to look at. Unfortunately, the arrival of the wood flooring has delayed closing by at least a month. But it will be totally worth it!
My parents built with oak flooring a couple of years ago and it is unstained, just a clear finish that is not glossy. I don’t know if they’re red or white oak but I love the natural blonde color
We just finished building a mountain house and your advise to avoid trendy in the hard finishes helped me immensely. The hubby does not like painted cabinetry and we have always loved walnut. It just felt right over all that whitewashed oak dominating Pinterest so that is what all of my cabinetry is. I’m actually bummed to hear it is becoming trendy. 😅
We balanced it with lighter quartzites except in one bathroom where the darker counters look amazing as the room is very light filled.
My esthetic is very different from yours, but, your practical advise rang in my ears every time I went to a tile store or stone yard, so, thank you.
The “fun” part about whitewashing oak is that as the wood ages and the natural color intensifies, the cabinets will look like a giant Easter basket. Whitewashed oak was a big trend when I started designing kitchens in the early 90’s. Years later my customers were ripping out the stripy pink/baby blue/aqua kitchen.
One cabinet style that has remained constant in over 30 years are white kitchen cabinets on classic raised panel doors.
My father was also a woodworker and he taught me about the beauty of certain wood species. I’ve loved our Brazilian cherry flooring in California but now that we live in the Pacific Northwest I could never put that dark of a floor in. With many grey days in the year, we decided to use a light/medium tone wood floor throughout and I love it. We added three skylights to the new home as well for more light. After all, this is a new chapter in our lives and time to live enjoying the beautiful trees outdoors and the warmth of this new floor.
I LOVE your leopard stair runner. My friend and I (who are animal print lovers) always say, “It matches nothing, but goes with EVERYTHING!” Of course we say this with the SNL Coffee Talk accent for dramatic effect 🙂
Just came here to say that “Lucy” is the perfect name for that dog!!
I favor medium-light wood tones like you refinished your floors, and I generally prefer a light-ish palette with a bit of dark contrast here and there. However, the home we bought 3 years ago has the main living areas clad in dark stained wood planking just like the warm walnut tones that are currently hot – I would not have chosen this color but it has grown on me over a few cozy winters, and there are just enough lighter fixed elements to balance it. I painted it out in the kitchen where it was too much with the dark stained cabinetry, and all the floors are blond or cream, and part of the living area is vaulted and painted cream above the 9 foot line. It does work for this home, which we call Walnut Lodge (for the black walnut trees in our yard as well as the wood paneling).
Funny story. I’m a Realtor and showed a high end home to some clients. They loved everything except for the animal print stair carpeting. They kept commenting on how odd it was. I told them about Maria and that she had used the same carpeting on her stairs. I explained that it was high quality designer carpeting. They ended up buying the house and replacing the carpet everywhere EXCEPT for the stairs! They understood it was a design statement and had come to love it as much as I did. It really was lovely.
In my opinion dark wood tones and black should only be used in small doses. Especially black! I am a light and bright person forever. Some furniture is really beautiful in the medium brown wood tones but I think it should be done sparingly. Kitchen cabinets look great to me in neutral colors and also the flooring should be in light or white oak, but not dark. I had a friend whose contractor installed dark flooring, and it showed dust and dirt like crazy. It is a matter of balance and I do not go to the “trends” only what I deem timeless. It takes heavy financing to install every time some new trend comes along.
Disclamer: I dislike wood anything but will tolerate it if it is painted and doesn’t look like wood – except for flooring. I really dislike dark wood. Too heavy visually. Reminds me of early twentieth century and even late nineteenth Queen Victoria era decorating. Ewwwww. Red or orange-toned wood is even worse! Reminds me of that Mexican tree they call the gringa tree. Bark peels like a bad sunburn exposing a reddish wood underneath. I prefer modern and even contemporary with glass and steel. I will even go as far as saying transitional is OK. I love light-filled rooms. I love timeless and simple. I love minimalism but know it wouldn’t work for me due to my being a Ukie Princess who hates housework. I love mono chromaticism. I love a limited palette. (My home is stainless steel, white, grey and medium greyish brown flooring throughout so all the artwork will pop and many, if not most colours, can be used to decorate). Trends are just FOMO in my opinion. Timeless is always IN. (Thank you, Maria!). I also think dark wood is very masculine. I’m thinking of all those homes with espresso kitchens with granite countertops. Too dark, gloomy and heavy. Even lamps can’t rescue these kitchens. I am not a decorator or designer but I know what I like. But I love being educated by experts like Maria. Who knows, I might come to love wood someday.
I remodeled my whole kitchen and kitchen coffee nook with natural walnut cabinets, gold hardware, white countertop, white backsplash tile, and white wood hood. I love it. I did use a brown taupe flooring, not sure it’s the right choice. I bought your color wheel, not sure how to use correctly. I don’t think I can tell the tones, need help. I’m in the process of selecting and building a large wall built-in across from the kitchen and I’m not sure that I’m making the right decision. I’m listening to a designer, but my gut keeps telling me it may not be right. I feel like I just keep spending money and still have no idea what I need to balance my beautiful kitchen. So I don’t make any moves. Same with furniture. The designer wants me to spend $23,000 on one couch, two swivel chairs, two coffee tables and two small ottoman to fit under the tables. I just feel that’s a lot of money. I wish I knew how to select and source furniture at more reasonable prices. I’m a stay at home, mom, I don’t have a big budget.
They key word here is “trending”. You’ll never catch up if you keep chasing trends.
I love the warm wood trend! I’m restoring my 1920s home with the original mahogany tones and I’m so glad this is back in style. I’m tempering the wood tones in my doors/cabinets by keeping trim and other things painted. The wood adds so much richness and character.
I wholeheartedly agree with keeping the wood tones that were of the era of your house. I cant imagine my 1960’s colonial ranch with anything but red oak flooring. The mahogany in your house is appropriate.
I wonder what the designers in 50 years will think of the unnatural tones in today’s new build houses.
I’m doing a white kitchen with walnut island and walnut dry bar/buffet. I’ll have white quartz countertops and backsplash along with honey bronze hardware. I’m told stained wood holds up better than painted (I’ve never had white cabinets) so I’m using it on the cabinets that will have the most use. Floors will be wood in a lighter stain than the natural walnut. Hoping for a beautiful and timeless kitchen!