Dabbieri Blog

Not Too Dark, Not Too Light, Just Right Medium-Toned Hardwood Looks

The past few years have seen flooring trends tip to either dark or light hardwood floors with a large emphasis on contemporary white oak hues. This season, though, we will see a return to medium-toned hardwood looks. While monotone gray planks, dark mahogany and light hardwood definitely make a statement with their pronounced color schemes, a return to medium-toned floors is the perfect reset for spring. These caramel and honey shades add warmth and comfort to your home and just look genuinely great with any architectural design.

Medium Gold-Tone Blonde Finish

Louis A. Dabbieri Hardwood x Emily Morrow Collection in Atlas Herringbone

To kick off our medium-toned hardwood line-up, we have a gold-tone blonde finish from our exclusive line of Louis A Dabbieri x Emily Morrow Home hardwood. This collection is made from rift and quarter sawn hardwood. The Atlas Herringbone style makes a beautifully charming statement in kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms alike.  Carrying a darker honey finish into this herringbone style is right on trend as hardwood inlaid patterns are on the rise, giving each space a unique touch of personality. Designed with a North American White Oak and this hardwood features more pronounced medullary rays that appear lighter among the vertical growth rings. Not to mention, the collection is made water-resistant with a specialized coating, so you can enjoy peace of mind from the occasional spills that happen with pets and kids underfoot.

Wide-Plank Coastal Vibe

Dabbieri H20 luxury vinyl in Ardeth Mink 

Not quite ready to commit to a rich-toned hardwood floor? For those still looking to maintain a lighter hue in their wood-look floors, opt for wood species such as white oak, European oak and light hickory. Take, for instance, this luxury vinyl floor from our Dabbieri H2O collection in Ardeth Mink. With a moderate variation and prominent grain, this medium-toned luxury vinyl features a bit of blonde throughout to give off a more contemporary coastal vibe. Perfect for bathrooms or small spaces where you want natural light to be reflected in your floors, this light honeyed hue can add simple beauty to your home design.

Antique Farmhouse Look

Louis A. Dabbieri Collection Marchiare in Prairie

Perhaps you want to take a more rustic approach with your hardwood floors. In that case, our Marchiare style in Prairie from the Louis A. Dabbeiri collection is the perfect choice for you. This mixed-medium hardwood lends the best of both worlds with its alternating light and dark stained planks. You can easily add character and depth to the room with a beveled-edged hardwood or a more prominent grain. These fresh antique farmhouse planks show off a wide range of color schemes and pull the room together with rich graham cracker shades and lighter champagne hues. 

Warm Honey Planks

Dabbieri Hardwood Collection Dolcezza in Prairie Dust

Sometimes the best hardwood floors are the ones that carry the most warmth. Opt for a warmer tone with these Dolcezza planks in Prairie Dust. Made from hickory, this hand-scraped hardwood from our Dabbieri Hardwood collection features a moderate grain with moderate variation. With its wider planking options, this wood floor gives off the air of natural authenticity.

How have you incorporated this season’s trending medium-toned hardwood look into your home design?

What is Waterproof Hardwood?

These days, the hardwood look is in but for many achieving a beautiful wood floor throughout your household may not be an option due to either warm climates and humidity changes or fear of water damage. You need something that’s both durable and wear resistant —a floor that can withstand the everyday needs of your busy household. If this sounds like something you’re concerned about, then our Dabbieri H2O line of waterproof hardwood floors is just the right floor for you.

Authentic, Real Hardwood

Dabbieri Hardwood, Le Havre Collection in hickory butter

Made from authentic, real hardwood the Dabbieri H2O collection features a line of waterproof options that will elevate your home design. Our waterproof hardwood floors look exactly like traditional wood flooring, but they’re designed with multiple layers of real wood on top of composite material such as stone and polymer. This strong base prevents the planks from expanding and contracting with changes in temperature or humidity. While long-term exposure to moisture of traditional solid hardwood can cause warping, bloating and cracks in the floorboards, waterproof hardwood seals out moisture and prevents it from ever reaching the subfloors. This offers the flexibility of installing hardwood in high-traffic, potentially wet areas like your entryway or your kitchen. Designed to repel water indefinitely, waterproof hardwood has an impenetrable layer made to keep water out.

Kid and Pet-Friendly Floor

Dabbieri Hardwood, Le Havre Collection in hickory oak maple ganache

Water-resistant floors are a must for homeowners with kids and pet’s running underfoot, but even better, are waterproof floors. While the two terms might sound much the same, there is a big difference between water-resistant and waterproof hardwood. Water-resistant floors can only handle small spills that are dealt with quickly, but waterproof flooring can withstand larger accidents like floods. With springtime just around the corner, this is an essential asset for your home solutions as the kid’s track in mud and rainy days lead to wetter climates. With Dabbieri H2O, you can rest assured that your hardwood will stay in tip-top shape. The best part about these waterproof hardwood floors is that you can really live on them —kid’s and pet’s alike!

A Cost-Effective Investment

Dabbieri H2O Collection in Odienne white oak

Making the switch to waterproof hardwood is also a sustainable, practical investment. This cost-effective flooring solution will pay off quickly since you won’t have to worry about replacing your floors due to burst water pipes or flooding. Waterproof hardwood can outlast the 20-year lifetime of a properly maintained solid hardwood floor. Brand new waterproof hardwood floors can last a lifetime and are available in an array of finishes and hues. There’s a waterproof hardwood style out there for any home design whether contemporary or traditional.

Check out our beautiful collection of Dabbieri H2O waterproof hardwood for your next home remodel.

Complementary Neutral Tones

When you think neutrals, typically muted earthy tones like white, black, brown, cream, and gray come to mind. This is because neutrals are hues that appear to be without color —they don't compete with primary colors and instead complement them. Well, we have good news for you: neutrals are making a big comeback this season as people search for calmness and tranquility in their at-home lives. Neutrals go with any color scheme, making them a perfect choice for the more permanent areas in your home, like floors and walls. Laying a neutral foundation is key as trends change and colors of the year fly by because these neutrals remain a present fixture that can withstand the test of time and provide a beautiful canvas for other colors to pop on. But how do you choose which neutrals complement other neutrals? Let us guide you through some graceful and straightforward ways to incorporate neutral tones throughout your home.

Cool-Toned Rugs on Dark Woods

Everyone loves a dark wood floor like mahogany or walnut as it can elevate a space and give an air of formality; cool-toned rugs with bits of gray, blue-gray, or greige work well with darker woods and give your room a bit of dimension and a break from all that darkness. This gray-flecked neutral rug works to add more texture to the room through its composition, and when placed over dark, fine-grained wood, it heightens the space, giving the room a layered, cozy look despite its cooler tones. For those worried about neutrals feeling drab or one-dimensional, don't fret, as you can also add dimension through lines, curves, and unique shapes in your furniture while still sticking to a neutral color palette.

Pulling Colors from Neutrals

Pulling a color tone from your neutral carpets can distinguish the decor from the flooring while also remaining cohesive in the design theme. The easiest way to find a color in your neutral carpet is to search for its undertone. Is it a cooler gray carpet? Then maybe opt for sage greens or light blues. Is it beige? Try sandy browns and burnt oranges. For instance, this speckled marble carpet from International Design Guild's Dabbieri line holds gray, beige, and green tones. This is played with throughout the room with a gray armchair, suede beige couch, and green accents of plants and wallpaper.

Slight Variation of Neutrals

The best part about a neutral color scheme is that they all work well together. Use this knowledge to your advantage by designing your space with slight variations of the neutral color throughout. Using this logic, you can stay true to the room's cohesive aesthetic while also maybe warming up the room a bit. Installing a light-aged wood allows you to marry colors like a tanner beige and blush pink infusing warmth throughout the space. You can also play with contrast by adding dramatic lighting or installing a light luxury vinyl floor but layering in darker wood cabinets. 

Stick To Black and White

When all else fails, stick to the traditional black and white. This trend has been around for a long time, and for a good reason: it works. Monochrome color schemes are a popular design trend, as they lend a fresh, clean look to any space. Don't fret about your room looking too cold or formal, though, because you can always let other neutrals come to play via artwork, curtains, lamps, furniture, and other decor in the space. Not to mention, black and white make a strong solid background for other colors to take center stage in your design vision.

Show us how you've introduced inspiring neutrals into your space!

Adding Texture With Neutral Floors

Establishing texture throughout your home can make it a warmer, more inviting –and more intriguing –environment. While using loud colors can be an easy way to add dimension to your space, colorful floors are not always an ideal choice, as they’re typically a lifelong investment. We’re here to tell you that it’s possible to create a design that can withstand the years of trends, by using with neutral flooring solutions.

Off-White Alternating Patterned Carpet

One of the best ways to create texture in spaces like your living room and bedroom is by installing a luxe carpet in cream colors that brings with it a ribbed or textured pattern alternating throughout. Our Louis A. Dabbieri line of Lerwick style carpets is perfect for this in the Clay hue, as it seamlessly ties together a room with its off-white based-color. With an alternating striped texture, it can be dressed up for a more formal setting or dressed down with more contemporary furniture pieces. The other wonderful part of having a cream-colored carpet is that any color will pop on this carpet and it can match whatever color-scheme you might have in mind for the rest of the room.

Contrasting Neutrals in Large Prints

Another way to create texture in your space is through large printed neutral carpets that have fun patterns that could be repeated throughout the room. Adding two neutral colors to a space might even expand the colors available for the rest of the rooms décor and can ground the room in a cohesive composition. One such carpet is from our Dabbieri line of Statesville carpets in Gull Ivory. Tying together the shades of ivory white and a gray-blue allows this carpet to bring both cool and warm tones to the room.

Medium-Toned Hardwood in Fine Grain

Hardwood is always a timeless flooring option and for those looking to add the element of texture with their floors, steer towards a more fine-grained hardwood. Look for woods that have plenty of texture naturally within their planks and show off unique knots or other blemishes. For example, the Dabbieri collection carries a line of Le Havre hardwood and this particular hickory shrub hardwood has the characteristics of a lighter wood with its modern wide-planks but shows of the deep-grains of its medium-toned that has been carefully hand-sawn.

Wire-Brushed Luxury Vinyl

If you’re looking for a floor that brings dimension to your space through the texture of real hardwood but is also waterproof and stain-resistant enough to withstand your active lifestyle, wire-brushed luxury vinyl planks are the perfect choice for you. Look for collections that are inspired by woods with larger pores and coarser grains such as pine or oak. Our Dabbieri H2O LVT collection of Jones Point planks are a great example of elegant grain patterns. Choose a neutral, more medium-toned wood in tan to lay out a canvas that can work with endless design themes from traditional to contemporary.

Eco Chic Carpeting

Comfort, sustainability and functionality are at the forefront of most homeowners minds these days, which makes sense considering just how much time we’ve been spending at home. Eco-friendly area rugs and carpets are a simple way to incorporate coziness into your home decor while keeping your space environmentally friendly. As we continue into 2021, sustainability and wellness are two major trends that will be interwoven throughout popular design themes. Finding natural, renewable fibers like organic wool, sisal, jute, seagrass and bamboo to scatter throughout your home can easily add elegance and warmth to your overall design. Eco-chic carpets tend to do better in low-traffic areas of the home, as their natural materials can be less durable than their synthetic counterparts, but still, these sustainable options are a wonderful flooring solution to make a green-statement and personalize your decor. Below are a few suggestions on how to invest in eco-chic carpeting this season.

Sustainably Sourced Area Rugs

By International Design Guild Manchester - See more Home Design Photos

Nowadays, many carpet brands are selling green collections made from recycled materials such as recycled water bottles, recycled synthetic fibers, and more. For those who want take a completely natural approach to their flooring solutions, jute makes a good heavy-duty rug with it’s thick, tightly woven material and durability best suited for low-traffic areas. Coir is another great natural alternative for area rugs coming in an earthy beige. Composed from the husks of coconut, coir makes for a long-lasting, tough carpet for high traffic areas of the home like your entryway or mudroom.

Barefoot Organic Wool For Soft Appearance

Cocoparra in Antique Lace by Dabbieri Naturals

A growing trend in bedrooms and living rooms is deep-pile carpets in undyed organic wool as they are super soft underfoot. Investing in a wool carpet is incredibly sustainable, as it is rated well for resilience and with the proper care and maintenance can outlast synthetic fiber carpets. Our exclusive line of Dabbieri Naturals here at International Design Guild is crafted from the most durable, responsibly sourced wool and comes thousands of designs, patterns and color schemes.

The Elegance of Sisal Herringbone

Herringbone patterns have seen a rise in popularity throughout the year and the herringbone sisal trend is just a subset off of this. Sisal, which is composed of a rope-like structure, is actually highly durable and can withstand heavier foot-traffic. When combined with a herringbone pattern, sisal can elevate a space and give it homey, uniquely personal feel. Whether you’re looking for a wall-to-wall carpet or a small area rug, sisal herringbone is a classic choice and will create soft earth-tones to complement your existing home decor.