New Floor - Grey or Dark Brown?

Grey is trendier. It's in right now, but could be "out" sooner than you think.

I was willing to take the risk of gray floors, but my attempts both fizzled. The stains I tried all looked either too black or too white on my oak floors. In the end, I just got tired of the alchemy and went with a clear, non-yellowing sealer for a raw, industrial look.

If you have dark brown kitchen cabinets, trying to find brown flooring that matches well is a losing game. If you match it too perfectly, it can all look like a sea of dark brown. If the flooring is dark but a little too red- or yellow-tinged, it looks horrible. As such, you should try to contrast it. If the cabinets are dark, go for light-colored flooring. But if your heart is set on gray, then use gray flooring. Or even ebony/black flooring. As long as you stay away from any shade of dark brown.

Grey is too taste specific - I would guess it turns off a large chunk of buyers (would be a negative for me as buyer). If you're doing it to your own taste and enjoyment of the apartment, fine. But if you are doing it with an eye towards resale value, I would guess light wood floors would be better choice. You can always go darker later but I'd be scared to go dark now and then have to lighten later... (although I've never done a floor renno so that's just a guess)

paint the cabinets

Grey. Make a statement. Everything goes with it.

Go for greyish brown which you can achieve my mixing 3 parts Minwax Ebony (which is brown with a lot of black) and 1 Part pickled Oak. Pure grey looks a bit like the painted grey common in basements and stair. Of course, do not forget to think about the rest of your color scheme - rugs, walls and furniture.

Excellent advice 300 mercer.
If you ignore the brown tones in the grey color, it will make the floor look new and the cabinets old. You want a warm grey or a grey brown.
Pure grey is too much of a trend.

Thanks for all of the help! For reference, this is the grey I'm looking at, Mirage - Maple Charcoal:
http://www.miragefloors.com/ENG/hardwood-floors-maple-charcoal.php?prod=64

...and this is the brown, Mirage - Koubari Tawny:
http://www.albertahardwood.com/Products/HardwoodFlooring/MirageHardwood/StylishCollection/ExoticSeries.aspx

"Grey. Make a statement. Everything goes with it."

No it does not.

Grey looks like a cold concrete basement floor.

I think gray looks nicest with oak, which tends to retain some of its natural brownness. The maple charcoal you linked will probably look very dark. That's OK, if it's what you're looking for, but I highly recommend testing some samples in your apartment before committing to it.

Update - I went with the charcoal, the floor sample looked great. Thanks for all the input!

of the two choices, were you doing it for you or for resaleability? Many on these boards would say the brown color choice will be better for future resale, as a greyish charcoal might be too taste specific. But in the end, live for what you want..not others.

"Grey. Make a statement. Everything goes with it."

Especially prison stripes.

urbandigs - i did it for me, not planning on selling anytime soon!

> resaleability?
> resale,
> taste specific

+1 for what urbandigs said.

Also, in my experience, unusual colors tend to go out of fashion and begin to look "sad" relatively quickly, compared to their "classic" counterparts--which may be a consideration even if you aren't going to sell anytime soon.

Just picture the orange or green kitchen countertops from the 70s, the blue (pink, brown, or black) toilets from the 70s-early 80s, the avocado green fridges from the 80s, the walls painted bright yellow from the early 2000s, etc. etc. I feel as though gray floors, albeit not as dramatic as bright colors perhaps, may end up making this list down the road...although I do think they look very nice--for now.