The Best Wall Colors To Cool Down Yellow-Toned Wood Floors

Yellow-toned wood floors like maple, pine, and white oak garnered a lot of "foot" traffic in the 80s and early 90s. While this trend served as an introduction to hardwood flooring a departure from the carpeted flooring of years past, yellow-toned wood floors have become outdated in the modern era. While most home fads can be easily renovated, such as removing kitschy 1970s wallpaper or updating outdated oak cabinets by painting your kitchen walls, replacing all of your existing flooring is a monumental task. Not only is it costly, but refinishing or replacing flooring is a huge project for any homeowner. If you're feeling saddled with your existing flooring due to budget restraints, don't give up. Finding the right wall paint color to pair with your yellow-toned wood floors can give them new life and create a stunning, contemporary look.

Yellow-toned wood often has warm undertones like yellow, orange, or red, so pairing it with cooler hues on your walls will help tone down the look of the floors. It's a good idea to choose contrasting cool tones like blue or gray to eliminate any visual monotony or overly saturated warm colors. Alternatively, you can use complementary colors to yellow, like shades of purple or deep shades of blue, which sit opposite yellow on the color wheel. Since yellow is a lighter color, yellow-toned wood often pairs best with wall colors that are equally light, muted, and more subtle in hue, such as taupe, beige, or greige.

Understanding color undertones is vital for finding the best pairing for yellow-wood floors. Thankfully, there is an easy test that'll help you determine the undertone of your paint color: Compare it to stark white with a sheet of copy paper. Gray and blue-gray paint colors, like SW 9561 'Guild Gray' by Sherwin-Williams or S450-2 'Wind Speed' by Behr (available at Home Depot), will help cool down the look of warm-toned yellow wood. Shades of white, gray, and greige with green undertones are also perfect for yellow-toned wood floors.

Contrasting cool tones, in general, can help lighten the warm look of yellow-toned floors. For example, dark blue and navy are classic pairings for yellow. A subtle, cool-toned gray can also help mute a vibrant and warm-toned yellow. Some purple tones and undertones can also complement yellow, particularly grays with purple undertones or soft pastel purple hues. The key is striking a balance between the intensity and undertones of both colors.

In general, you'll want to avoid warm colors and paints with warmer undertones, like red, red-violet, or rich browns with a red, yellow, or orange undertone. You also shouldn't pair yellow with itself. While yellow can be great for bedroom designs that instantly cheer you up, pairing it with yellow-tone wood floors isn't ideal. Additionally, brown and beige can make a room with yellow floors appear dull and lackluster. While it's possible to pair lighter browns, such as taupe or greige, with yellow flooring, the cooler undertones are what allow this color pairing to shine.

Clashing colors should also be avoided. This includes vibrant purples, reddish purples, rich black, bright primary blue, or saturated green. Color intensity is the primary factor for this color clashing, so choosing these hues isn't completely off-limits. If you crave any of these colors, we suggest opting for muted tones or subtle expressions as opposed to vibrant ones. Choosing colors that are soft, light, and cool-toned will better pair with your yellow-toned flooring.