Jason Trim On How To Choose Floor Colors That Open Your Space

 How Important Is The Color Choice When Selecting Flooring?

Choosing a floor color shouldn’t feel like a gamble. Jason Trim breaks it down step by step, showing how the right tone can open your space, bounce natural light, and support the style you actually live with. After years of cool grays, 2026 is trending toward warm, natural mid-tones that feel inviting and timeless—think oak-inspired hues that make rooms look bigger and pair effortlessly with crisp whites, creamy neutrals, and the renewed wave of greens and blues in paint and cabinetry.

We dig into how architecture should guide your choice: modern farmhouse loves light, gently distressed planks; metro condos shine with smooth, low-variation finishes; log cabins benefit from deeper tones that balance pine-heavy interiors. You’ll hear why bold, dark floors can still win when used with lighter walls and intentional accents, and how to avoid “timestamped” trends by aligning color with the personality of your home. We also talk practical upgrades: if you’re investing in new tile and wood, consider updating aging cabinets to match today’s finishes and soft-close hardware so the whole space lands at the same level.

Overwhelmed by options? Start with a tight inspiration board, spot the patterns you love, and test samples at home across morning and evening light. Bring your photos to the showroom so Jason can source exact looks—even beyond what’s on the floor—to fit your furniture, lighting, and budget. By the end, you’ll know how to balance light, texture, and undertones for a floor that looks great now and ages well later.

If this helped you move from stuck to confident, subscribe, share with a friend planning a remodel, and leave a quick review to tell us what color you’re leaning toward.

To learn more about BPS Southeast Flooring visit:
https://www.BPSSoutheast.com
BPS Southeast Flooring 
Servicing Rutherford, Polk, Henderson and Cleveland County 
828-532-2141 

Transcript

Welcome & Show Focus

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the BPS Southeast Flooring Podcast, where beautiful spaces start from the ground up. Hosted by Jason Trent, owner of BPS Southeast, serving homeowners, businesses, interior designers, remodelers, and flippers across western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. From luxury vinyl and hardwood to carpet and tile, if it goes underfoot, we've got you covered. Expect practical tips, money-saving insights, and the occasional bad dad joint. Because around here, it's flooring for everyone. Let's roll without the bubbles.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Welcome everyone. I'm Chelsea Earlywine, co-host and producer here in the studio with Jason Trim, owner of BPS Southeast. Jason, how's it going today?

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Doing well. How are you doing?

Why Floor Color Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Doing good. Well, Jason, let's dive right in. Today's question is how important is the color choice when selecting flooring?

2026 Color Trends Shift Warmer

SPEAKER_02 0:58

It tends to be the biggest question when I have people come in is trying to find the right color. So right now for 2026, they're leaning more as a market whole, and people looking are going for more warmer to mid-tones because a lot of the feeling they want their homes to feel more open, more of a natural look. So they're going for that more natural-looking color woods, getting away from the grays and dark tones and going more towards a more natural, warmer glow. And then the wall colors have a little more variety in options when your colors of the floors are a little more neutral. It allows for more variety in wall tones. So you'll see sometimes they'll do a warm floor and do a wider and off-white wall, but then you also see them do yellow, turquoise, blue, khaki. It allows for a lot more expression and color tones. But other people, they if they want, if maybe be more bold, they'll go with darker colors with a lot more depth to it, but they're gonna circumference that room in a lot more bolder accents. So the floor is not the centerpiece of the attention, it's gonna be a lot more boldness through the entire room. So a lot of people, when they're looking, they're gonna go for more neutral, warmer tones. But if they're really trying to make a statement, sometimes they're looking for that dark, rustic look because that may also go with the furniture accent or where they're where they're living. So there's a lot of variances of where do you live, how what's your taste, what what does your furniture look like? Those are all little things that go into the picking out of their floor color.

Matching Walls And Accents

SPEAKER_00 2:42

So that's really helpful information, Jason. So how does natural light influence what flooring colors are going to work best in the space?

Light, Space, And Reflection

SPEAKER_02 2:53

If there's a lot of windows and a lot of natural light, that warm lighter tone makes the room feel a lot bigger because it's just that there's a tendency when you get a lot of raw color, if you get a lot of bold colors, it can sometimes make the room look a little smaller because there's less light reflecting off of everything. So sometimes they'll do a darker floor with a lighter wall and make the floor kind of an accent, and then they'll put a lot of rich furniture and different things to kind of make everything. You may put a big bold curtain or painting or rugs or different things to kind of make a statement. But the lighter tones, you see a lot of the newer furniture and a lot of classic furniture are warm natural tones. And when we went through the pandemic, a lot of people had to stay home, and they started to realize it's just kind of dreary, or the the color tones that were real popular were those grays and neutrals, and it's just like then everybody started going, let's go for more of an earth tone, natural tone, something to bring, make the outdoors kind of come in with that warmth. You'll see you've seen the greens and blues start to make a real strong comeback with warm greens, even in cabinet colors. You're seeing green and blues coming back in in cabinet colors. So the tones have changed to try to bring more of that natural feel that's outside back in. And that's a lot of the colors of wood is that warm tune, that medium tone that you see naturally outside, bringing that inside.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Ah, that makes sense. Bringing nature indoors, especially when we needed it most because we weren't going anywhere. So that makes a lot of sense. So, Jason, do you find that trendy colors age quickly, or can they still be a smart long-term choice?

Nature-Inspired Palettes Return

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Depends on the home. Trendy colors can be whereas people go in, especially when you see resales, they'll go in and say, okay, this looks like 1980s or the 1990s. You can tell by certain color palettes that was a trend at a certain time frame. It's been fun, you go into really old homes. Oh, yeah, that's the 1970s, that's the avocado green, or that's that burnt orange, or you get into the 90s, yeah, that dark hunter green carpet. And there's certain things that you saw in certain time frames, but when you're looking for long term, what does your house look like? Is it a modern farmhouse? Is it a metro style condo? Is it a country cottage log cabin? Sometimes your flooring needs to reflect the style home that you have as well. So it gets that longevity of style. So not just going for personality of colors, but personality of the home itself. So if you're looking to get that long-term investment, if you're remodeling and redoing things, it's to go for the personality of the end product. So if it's that modern farmhouse, it could be a lighter tone and maybe with a little distressing in it because you may have a brick accent wall over here in the kitchen or a nice fireplace, or if it's a log cabin, you're gonna have okay, it's a lot of pine on the walls. You may want a wood floor that's a little darker, so it's just not all yellow pine everywhere. So there's a lot of you to take in the take into consideration for the actual style of the home, if you're gonna redo something that you want the whole look to last. Those who've taken those considerations, you'll should get the best outcome.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Okay, that makes sense. And Jason, what do you think the role of existing cabinets like throughout the house? Does that does that play a big part in the decision?

Trendy vs Timeless Choices

SPEAKER_02 6:31

It can. If if you're gonna invest, let's say you're gonna invest in tile and wood flooring and everything, you may be spending up to 40 to$50,000 in a full home remodel just on the flooring and tiles part. Well, if you're investing that much and your cabinets are 30 or 40 years old, you may want to look at updating them because once you've done all this other work, it will tend to accentuate one more item that didn't get done. It's one of those things when you're looking at a remodel, you may not have to put really high-end custom cabinets in, but sometimes updating something because the cabinets have gotten so much better in finishes and hinges where now they have those soft clothes, so like your children can't go in there and slap it in it. Slowly closes. So you don't have even in the entry level, you have that. So it's one of those sometimes it's worth doing the kitchen cabinets at the same time to get everything up to par. You may not have to put a real high end, but updating them will definitely make everything look more uniform in the style, in the age of everything.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

That makes sense. So, Jason, before we close out, if someone is kind of overwhelmed with the color options, what's a good simple first step in narrowing down the options?

Style Of Home Drives Longevity

SPEAKER_02 7:57

I would a lot of times so people go to Pinterest and go to these picture option websites that you can Instagram, Pinterest, where you can just look at put tile flooring, remodel kitchen, and start getting an idea of what appeals to you. Because a lot of people, in let's say, 10 years ago, I would say, okay, go to Home and Garden magazine or Southern Living, or depending on where you what you want, you look through magazines and now everything's posted online. So it's just go to Pinterest, go to Instagram. I don't push the HD TV thing because that that really gets to be a regional and personal taste, and you're you're gonna spend a lot of time watching a show to get one outcome where you can flip through pictures a lot faster online.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

That makes sense. I love a good Pinterest board as a as a starting point for designs. So that's very helpful.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Yeah, and I have a lot of people that'll come in and say, Do you have this? Or can you get this this color or this look? And if they if they have a real good idea what they want, it actually makes it easier for me to help them. Because if I don't have it, I'll have resources to go, okay, I don't have this in my showroom, but I know this company has it. I can reach out to them and bring that sample in and see if it works for you. So just narrowing down and spending that time of do you like this look? And you also know what furniture you have in your house. So you can see, okay, with the style of furniture I have, if I'm not going to be updating that, what's going to look good with what other people have done? Do I like that look or do I want to keep looking?

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Yeah, well, that's very helpful. Great insights. As always, Jason, thank you for walking us through that, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

See you next time. That's today's step in the right direction from the BPS Southeast Flooring Podcast. Ready to finally love what you're standing on? Call Jason for a free estimate at 828-532-2141 or visit bpssoutheast.com. Luxury vinyl, hardwood, carpet, tile, flooring for everyone. Thanks for listening and remember great rooms don't just happen, they're installed.