When familiar beloved indoor spaces can use a burst of new energy, it’s incredible what a new paint color can do to transform the way your home feels! Our favorite flooring styles anchor the design foundation of every room but will also be updated less frequently than paint colors on the walls, doors, and other elements. By weighing factors like natural light, room size, design aesthetic, and of course, flooring type, you can land on the perfect new shade to make you fall in love with your home all over again. For dazzling finished results that deliver rejuvenated appeal, here are a few of our favorite tips for how to match flooring to your paint colors:
Using Paint Colors to Set Moods
Depending on the vibe you aim to achieve in a room, you can easily use paint colors to set moods that soothe, inspire, engage, or comfort. Paired seamlessly with floors, furniture pieces, and fabrics, these mood-enhancing paint colors may just be the right shade for you:
- Calming Green – It’s easy to create a natural connection to the great outdoors with green shades that feature a touch of gray. In addition to lending calming energy, greens balance classic materials like brass, marble, dark wood, and wool. Timeless wood floor colors combined with green shades truly bring the outside in.
- Warmth of Red – Explore a red, orange, or brown color palette when you want to add warmth to your rooms. You can go for a more earthy tone to balance lighter floor colors or a dustier shade with pink undertones to complement darker floors with plenty of coziness.
- Yellow Neutrals – Whether you opt for a lighter pastel or a deeper, spicy mustard, yellow paint adds vibrancy that inspires. In rooms where you want to encourage brighter energy such as a bathroom, child’s bedroom, or playroom, yellow neutrals can easily work with natural light to add the pop you are looking for!
- Cool Blues & Indigos – When we think of the color blue, we immediately think of a beautiful sky or relaxing bodies of water. This serene paint color works perfectly with the full spectrum of brown tones and works well within a variety of décor themes. Think blue and indigo when you want to find Zen.
Balancing Paint Colors and Natural Light
When selecting paint colors for a room, always consider the amount of natural light that comes in. If your room receives a ton of light shining through, you have a wider color palette to choose from. Cool, darker floors need appropriate contrast from walls and cabinet colors to prevent a cave-like feel. Muted and matte finishes combined with lighter colors like warm whites and warm neutrals will reflect light to perfection for inviting spaces. You can also add lighting to a room to set the perfect mood for your flooring and paint combination. A lighter color scheme is always a great starting point when balancing paint colors with natural light, where you can then add pops of bolder, darker-colored furnishings and appliances, as well as eye-catching patterned rugs, towels, and other elements to keep the overall look engaging.
Balancing Paint Colors with Floor Colors
When balancing paint colors with floor colors, remember that each room is different. You will generally seek paint colors that contrast with floors appropriately to avoid a one-note feel, and certainly avoid color combos that clash. For rooms like kitchens and bathrooms, you will need to factor in this harmony with cabinets, countertops, and backsplashes. Lighter-colored flooring paired with lighter-colored backsplashes reflect natural light effectively and set the stage for a bolder paint color to be featured. For a modern, spacious visual, you can consider uniform cabinet and wall paint colors but contrast the floors to prevent a sterile environment. Find complementary paint and flooring colors first, then work from there to explore bolder, more unique color schemes if desired.
Using Paint Colors to Make Rooms Feel Larger
If your room has smaller square footage and feels more confined, matching paint colors to flooring can help open the space visually. If you have lighter-colored floors, pairing them with low-contrast wall colors will help erase the perspective of a horizon line, and use natural light to give the space a larger feel. Then, consider compatible lighter paint colors for corresponding surfaces like cabinets, countertops, and trim. With proper lighting and lighter colors for all design elements, you can make even the smaller rooms seem bigger than they actually are.
Best Long-Term Paint Colors
As you explore all the gorgeous paint colors available, it’s always sound to keep a long-term vision in mind that will age well as tastes change. Versatile paint colors will match your flooring now and be more likely to work if your preference for a traditional, transitional, contemporary, rustic, or modern aesthetic evolves. Neutrals within the same family are the best long-term paint colors that will remain easy to design with. Just as a more muted, matte, or classic flooring finish will blend into a wider range of decorating styles over the years, paint colors with grey, greige, or blue-grey undertones will subtly match more décor as well. If you think you may list your property in the near future, you can also draw inspiration from popular color schemes of homes in the area to appeal to local prospective buyers.
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When you have procured paint swatches or a paint manufacturer’s color wheel and are ready to land on a winning combination, now it’s time to get flooring samples to complete a side-by-side assessment: Complete our Floor Genius Quiz to receive flooring style recommendations that fit your preferences and receive an exclusive code for free flooring samples of your quiz results! Comparing paint swatches and flooring samples in your rooms will give you the most accurate idea of how your incredible finished results will appear.