POLL: Dark vs light furniture?

Emmeline Westin

8 years ago

Let's see what Houzzers prefer for their homes, light or dark furniture?

Feel free to tell us what you feel passionate about in the comments section below.

Dark furniture

Light furniture

Both

No option

Featured Answer

Aisling O'Callaghan

8 years ago

I think that sometimes too much white can be a bit boring, a little injection of dark furniture gives a warmer feel to a room.

Comments (98)

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Design by nico
8 years ago
Depends on the space and the interior pieces
PRO
Paul Lovering Arts
8 years ago
I like light furniture
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Hi snan - to address your questions: 1 - yes, the lamps work very well. With regard to the height of the larger lamps: do you know how high they would be? If the bottom of the lampshade is even with the top of the pillows that should work. If they are taller than that I think you will be okay with the smaller lamps. Look back again at some of the pictures above to see what I mean. The thing that will look odd would be if the top of the lamps were taller than your headboard. The idea is that when you are in bed reading a book that you want the light to be able to reflect down. As far as the lampshade size goes on the smaller lamps I'm thinking the shorter ones since they don't seem to drop down as far as the larger ones. 2 & 3-Definitely chair by the mirrored bedside locker with one white locker on the other side. Without question. The chair to the left of the bed gave the room life. Use the extra white one in a closet or another room. You don't want to overcrowd your room when you are going for a tranquil setting. 4-Absolutely okay to have bedside tables that don't match and look good in the room. Whether or not you like that is a personal preference though. I would only put the mirrored one next to the bed though if you have the chair next to it. It's how they play off each other that makes it work. If you don't keep the chair next to the bed then I would use both white tables beside the bed. It is also fine that the pictures are off-centre to the wall as long as they are centered to the bed. :)
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Barth Properties Limited
8 years ago
Both light and dark furniture can work well. I find depending on the house, size and the amount of light entering the room will depict light or dark furniture.
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User
7 years ago
We design and make furniture in solid walnut (dark) and solid oak (light) and have recently seen a huge increase in demand for classic solid walnut dining tables and chairs.
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hennessy design
7 years ago
furniture finish is sometimes established by what the client is looking for and what they are comfortable for thier project.
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Patrick Casserly Design
7 years ago
We find both light and dark woods can work equally well depending on amount of light etc in room
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Castara Designs Ltd
7 years ago
Depends on the light in the space, but I love dark furniture for added drama.
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V.I.P Walls Interior Specialist
7 years ago
We think light furniture really brightens up the room.
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Harpers of Barnard Castle
7 years ago
The light furniture keeps the room bright
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Re-Form Furniture
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Give me bright colors any day
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SO KLARA
7 years ago
Dark furniture adds intensity to the living space.
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robin milne woodworks
7 years ago
Combination of more rustic light furniture within light interior is lovely.
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West woods design
7 years ago
Dark gives more carecter to a room. You can always brighten the walls or use mood lighting.
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Pagazzi Lighting
7 years ago
It all depends on the room and the vision! Light works great with neutrals to create easy, breezy living spaces, whereas dark can create a more sophisticated mysterious feel.
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Wareham Interiors
7 years ago
Both can look great but dark furniture definitely stands out more, but look for good quality.
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JD Kitchens & Interiors
7 years ago
It really depends on the flooring, walls and lighting in the room.
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COLLINS and HAYES
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
2015 Collection · More Info

Dark Walnut and Charcoal tones are working for us at the moment which look sleek, classy and add depth...
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The Original Cupboard Company
7 years ago
I voted light
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Wood To Inspire
7 years ago
A combination of light and dark shades interest me. I like to see a contrast in colours, provided by different materials.
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WCD Furniture
7 years ago
Both light and dark can be great to use in interiors. Mid century rosewood sideboards are coming back more and more at the moment and they can be a fantastic addition to any house and the designs will be continuously celebrated. Light furniture can also be used in many brilliant ways. People are pulling away from pine and are sourcing wood in more unique ways than ever before. Natural light wood furniture has been a clear trend that we can see. We make bespoke tables in natural wood using similar designs to Scandinavian and Italian. See below a selection of brilliant designs in different wood types and shades.
TimeBomb 27
7 years ago
I think light is the best choice for house interiors.
TimeBomb 27
7 years ago
I would say white walls with maybe a black floor, or just all white with black furniture. too much white doesn't look good.
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Love Shutters UK
7 years ago
Love light and bright rooms.
Stephen Edwards
7 years ago
I like light and bright also dark and interesting. I have everything from white fibreglass, melamine and enamel, to oak, rosewood, mahogany, pine, ebonised plus coloured lacquered chinoiserie. I just like lots of things.
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Sustainable Furniture UK
7 years ago
As others have said, it really depends on the room as well as personal taste. Although I often find in lighter rooms one or two pieces of darker furniture add a nice contrast and can draw the eye to a focal point in the room if done well.

www.Sustainable-Furniture.co.uk
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Studio Red Architects
7 years ago
Light furniture helps to bounce light
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Feng Shui Design
7 years ago
Dark furniture feels more settled and grounded - therefore feels more relaxing place to spend time.
David
7 years ago
We find that customers base their preferences on their existing interior themes. Sometimes a contrast is good.
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salmon carpentry and property refurbishments
7 years ago
clean and tidy
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Baudelaire Interiors LTD
7 years ago
Our clients find that dark furniture often compliments many of our traditional heavy embroideries
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Klaudia Dziak Design
7 years ago
Light furniture will reflect the light and make your room feel more spacious. You can dress it with variety of different textures and colours to add a bit of a wow factor to it.
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Roon & Rahn
7 years ago
It really depends on the room! Our entire apartment has white walls and ceiling, which is why we have a lot of furniture with dark wood. But we also have som colourful pieces like our sofa and painting to break with the many soft tones.
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Showers To You
7 years ago
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Dark adds luxury, light is overplayed and shows the dirt easily!
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John McCall Architects
7 years ago
Light furniture gives a contemporary feel and reflects light back into the room.
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Something Furniture
7 years ago
Prefer light but also like darker furniture
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Tailored Living
7 years ago
It will very much depend on the style and mood that the client is trying to create. In a very light scheme texture and a little bit of contrast will be key to make it successful. In your sample image for light colours, the room has been contrasted very well with darker shades to bring it alive. The same room would be very bland without that contrast.
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Natural Hardwood Revealed
7 years ago
Certain grains of wood you want to see he grain, then depending on what design is, or use of can be darker
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Simmer & Soak Home Improvements Ltd
7 years ago
so much choice with modern textured laminate finishes
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Tc Carpentry and Joinery ltd
7 years ago
dark is more modern,however maybe not as homely.
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Shaw & Jagger Architects
7 years ago
Light makes rooms appear larger
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ElegantOak.co.uk
7 years ago
We find that both dark and light furniture work for different houses
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Capella Interiors
7 years ago
It depends whether you're on the dark side or the light side decor wise - contrast if you can
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King and Webbon
7 years ago
Currently loving the lighter colour and texture of solid Ash
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Nikki Bradley Interior Stylist
7 years ago
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In a recent project I completed my client loved the light furniture chooses.
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Casa flor
7 years ago
I love to see dark wood against white or off white walls. Very Spanish!
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WeSprayAnything Ltd
7 years ago
white clean and bright
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Lifeshapes
7 years ago
As designers and manufacturers of contemporary metal furniture, we tend to believe that choice of furniture in a room should reflect the buyer's personality and choice of overall design. Simply choosing light or dark seems like quite a narrow criteria.
mrsbronwyngreen
5 years ago
I actually don't think these photos are good examples to compare. In both situations, the tone of the furniture matches the tone of the floor. It is this that makes both situations work. I think a better comparison would be using photos with the same floor colour (more like the left, since that is more common) and THEN comparing furniture colours
Gillian Spark
5 years ago
Our home is a comfort driven election of many types of timber and styles having been donated bits from great grandparents, grandparents, parents and even a friend's old pine kitchen table that had been chewed by her dog!
We may be awarded any trophies for our home but it is full of memories of our 50 years of marriage.
The only bit of furniture I really do not like and regret buying is a tipple galas shelved TV unit. It is almost impossible to keep clean. Gilly
Gillian Spark
5 years ago
sorry I meant we may NOT be awarded any trophies

POLL: Dark vs light furniture?

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