Hardwood Flooring to Make Room Look Bigger

Learn how to lay hardwood flooring to make a room look bigger. Find out how the direction you install your wood floor planking can make a small room look larger.

LESLIE: Taking a call from John in New York about flooring. What can we do for you?

JOHN: Hey, how you doing, guys? Listen, I’ve got a little dilemma here. I’m going to be replacing a hardwood floor in a very small apartment in New York City and I’m going crazy because half the world is telling me – or most of the world is telling me a light hardwood floor would make it look bigger, because it’s very small, the other place. And the other – but there’s a few people, supposedly big shots, that say that’s a fallacy and should get a very dark floor. So I’m a little jammed because this is like, you know, a very decision and I want the place to look as big as it can be. So what do I do?

LESLIE: Well, I think in addition to color of the floor you should consider the direction in which you run the planks.

JOHN: Ah.

LESLIE: You want them to run in the direction of the longest span of the room to make it feel as if it’s larger.

JOHN: OK, got you.

LESLIE: And then …

JOHN: Yeah, it is a rectangle. OK.

LESLIE: Yeah, so you want to sort of help elongate it in any direction you can, so do that with the planking direction. And then I think as far as color, hmm, you know, you want to go with a neutral tone so that it works with whatever paint or whatever decorating style your renter or you or whomever is in the space would enjoy. I kind of recently have been very prone to dark floors only because I think they’re super stylish, I think it’s a modern take on a wood floor …

JOHN: Yeah.

LESLIE: … and I think it really works with a lot of decorating styles. And you don’t have to go super dark like an ebony or a wengé but those are gorgeous tones to choose in a wood floor.

JOHN: Really? OK.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm. I mean that’s what I think but, you know …

JOHN: I’ve got two walls that are a little dark and it looks great, but now I’m a little bit concerned about – but now you’re talking me into going that way. So I think that’ll happen.

LESLIE: You know, as long as you keep trimming in the space that’s in a light color, even like a white, that’ll help draw the eye to all different corners and spaces of the room itself and sort of open it up.

JOHN: Ah. So keep the trim lighter so you have the definitions all around.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

JOHN: Great. Hey, listen. Thanks a lot, guys.

LESLIE: You’re so welcome.