Flooring choice and dirt question

[nevergiveup]

I am picking out new flooring for a few rooms in my house.  My husband said that the color and pattern I have picked will show dirt.  So, I question whether it is better see the dirt and know it is there and clean it up or live blissfully in filth because one cannot see it.

What do you do?

[Storygirl]

I prefer floors to camouflage the dirt.

At various times, I've had wood floors that were 1) light oak 2) medium cherry color 3) very dark walnut color. By far, the one that showed the least dirt was the medium tone.

[prairiewindmomma]

I think we are house twinsies @Arctic Mama. Can you post or pm me the choice of your laminate? Has it been gouge resistant?

[fairfarmhand]

I not want to see every speck that comes in. That means that other than the 60 seconds after I swept and mopped, the floor always looks dirty.  I vote camouflaged floors.

signed, 

a woman whose dh chose white tile for the kitchen. 

[Karen A]

camoflaged! Also have white tile and ughh!

[Katy]

1 hour ago, Arctic Mama said:

I picked our new laminate wood floors precisely because they are the exact color of floor dirt.  

 

So I vote - camouflage all the way. If the roomba doesn’t get it I won’t know, and I’m so okay with that.

 

Thank you!  I was looking at a house the other day and I was MYSTIFIED why someone had put in that color floor in a home with all cherry woodwork.  The floor looked fine, but it was such a tone and style mismatch with the rest of the house I couldn't imagine what the homeowner was thinking. I think you just explained it to me. 

IME medium tone floors are best for hiding dirt, but it really depends on your family.  I've found the color of our dust has changed a lot since our black dog died and I no longer see that fur everywhere.

[Bambam]

I vote camouflaged. I have a lovely dark hard wood floor. Vacuum it - it shows hair, lint, dust, whatever within 5 minutes. Use hardwood floor cleaner on it, same thing. It shows *every* *little* thing. I do not like it. Last house had tile variegated in all most of our dirt colors. So very nice. It always looked nice even when it wasn't clean. I miss it. 

[gardenmom5]

depends- do you vacuum and sweep multiple times a day?  every day?   do you not have kids at home who track dirt in the house?

I had 'dirt' colored carpet for a long time.  it was great.  another friend, with a busy household, had multicolored carpet that hid a multitude of sins.  she loved it.

[Jyhwkmama]

The Property Brothers say that if you have kids and/or pets, go with a midtone to hide dirt. They even did a demo with different flooring samples. It was eye opening.

[kbutton]

I vote for hiding dirt, but I also vote for something not terribly "busy" because it's hard to find things you drop (like finding a sewing needle in the midst of something with lots of tiny woodgrain, for instance).

I do have one floor that hides things too easily. I can't quite put my finger on why it seems that way, but I am guessing maybe because it's also hard to tell if it got clean, lol! I like some contrast for that purpose. 

[Corraleno]

I vote for hiding dirt & dust, because otherwise they just look dirty 10 minutes after you wash them. A little dirt/dust/pet hair is not really dangerous — not enough to warrant sweeping or washing the floor multiple times per day. I've found that shiny dark floors are the worst, because every speck of dust or lint or hair shows up instantly, even if they were just washed and are free of actual dirt and spills. 

OTOH, I prefer countertops that do show dirt/spills, because I want food prep areas to be as clean as possible, and I do wash or wipe them multiple times/day. In our last 2 houses we've had really busy granite countertops and it's really hard to see when they're clean — you literally have to get down and sort of squint at countertop with the light at a certain angle so the dirty spots show up as matte instead of shiny. I plan to replace them with off-white quartz countertops when we remodel — and replace the white vinyl tile floors with woodgrain LVT.

[alisoncooks]

I'm all for hiding my slovenliness. Our newish kitchen floor is mid tone browns and grays (with knots and such). Great at hiding mess. 

[HSmomof2]

5 hours ago, Bambam said:

I vote camouflaged. I have a lovely dark hard wood floor. Vacuum it - it shows hair, lint, dust, whatever within 5 minutes. Use hardwood floor cleaner on it, same thing. It shows *every* *little* thing. I do not like it. Last house had tile variegated in all most of our dirt colors. So very nice. It always looked nice even when it wasn't clean. I miss it. 

Same here with the dark wood floors. They’re pretty for about 5 minutes after cleaning. Definitely prefer floors that don’t show dirt.

[Chris in VA]

Agree with midtones, although I do love dark floors. My current floors are too busy. I live in a school, so they are that weird school flooring--very hard, very busy. I will try to attach a picture. Totally agree about kitchen counters being easy to spot dirt!

floor

counter--so hard to see if it is clean!

Edited January 26, 2019 by Chris in VA

[Carrie12345]

In theory, I want surfaces that don’t lull me into a false sense of clean.

In practice, I have 5 kids, 2 pets, an open floor plan, and normal human energy limits.  Camo is good.

[nevergiveup]

I'm not the cleaning queen and I like to see a difference if I have actually put the effort in.  This is quite the conundrum.  If I get one too camouflaged, I would never clean it.  And, I definitely do not want one that looks dirty after I actually went to all that effort!  

Thanks for all the replies!  I will keep mulling. 

[nevergiveup]

9 hours ago, Jyhwkmama said:

The Property Brothers say that if you have kids and/or pets, go with a midtone to hide dirt. They even did a demo with different flooring samples. It was eye opening.

I would love to see that demo!  And one that shows how durable a flooring material is--I don't want to have to choose again anytime soon!

[KungFuPanda]

11 hours ago, Katy said:

 

Thank you!  I was looking at a house the other day and I was MYSTIFIED why someone had put in that color floor in a home with all cherry woodwork.  The floor looked fine, but it was such a tone and style mismatch with the rest of the house I couldn't imagine what the homeowner was thinking. I think you just explained it to me. 

IME medium tone floors are best for hiding dirt, but it really depends on your family.  I've found the color of our dust has changed a lot since our black dog died and I no longer see that fur everywhere.

Was it a mid-century modern house? This combination is really common in those and that style is everywhere now. It keeps the room from being too matchy or too dark. 

I have really blonde floors. The only thing that really shows up is dog hair tumbleweeds from my black dog. Floors can be like cars. The dark ones can show more dirt. 

[Katy]

5 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

Was it a mid-century modern house? This combination is really common in those and that style is everywhere now. It keeps the room from being too matchy or too dark. 

I have really blonde floors. The only thing that really shows up is dog hair tumbleweeds from my black dog. Floors can be like cars. The dark ones can show more dirt. 

 

No, it was a maybe 8 year old 2 story traditional(ish) McMansion with brick and stone siding and weird Victorian cherry woodwork.  I say weird only because it SO clashed with the tone of the LVP gray oak floor, which is much more trendy.