Paint Colors That Go With Cherry Wood Floors

Here we share our picks for paint colors that go with cherry wood floors.
If you’re lucky enough to have a home with cherry wood floors, chances are you want to take advantage of every opportunity to show them off and enhance their beauty. Cherry wood is a premium hardwood from the cherry tree — yes, the same tree that grows the round red fruit!

Cherry wood is highly valued by woodworkers and homeowners alike for its durability, smooth grain, and material flexibility. It’s a stunning choice for floors, but because of the rich, attention-drawing hue, many homeowners struggle to decide on a paint color for the walls.

Choosing Colors That Go with Cherry Wood Flooring

The unique color characteristics of cherry wood often challenges one’s design sensibilities when it comes to matching wall paint.

One must be mindful not only of the variations of colors that cherry wood offers, but the brush of undertones, wood grain patterns and deep color strokes that are beautifully interwoven in the overall effect.

Prolonged exposure to sun and air creates an evolution of color from the wood’s original patina that takes consideration when choosing a wall color. 

Although cherry wood is a flooring commonly selected for traditional design concepts, it offers a unique versatility that transcends design styles by the colors paired up with this wood.

Determine the design style you are seeking to achieve and whether you inspire to play up your floors for a dramatic contrast or downplay for a passive contrast.

The undertones in the wood grain and quality of lighting entering your space will also help guide in color direction.

When striving for a more contemporary design nuance, follow the path of a softer, subdued color palette.

What comes to vision is Sherwin Williams Enchant. Here, you have a soothing dusty lavender that complements well with a cherry wood grain of golden-brown.

This pairing resonates in a contemporary style bedroom that yearns for a more serene and peaceful ambience. 

A well-appointed color for living and dining spaces is revealed in Behr Graceful Gray. This hue exudes a subtle elegance that leans toward a neutral blend of eggplant and taupe.

Truly, it flaunts a color that transcends all spaces, and works well with a range of cherry wood flooring from amber to mid-red and deeper red tones.

This pairing is transitional where it can reflect a contemporary or traditional theme. Graceful gray will accentuate the richness of cherry wood. 

Silver Sage by Benjamin Moore finds its place in the gastronomy areas of your home. This is a well-embraced hue as it symbolizes health and renewal reminiscent of kitchen and dining spaces.

Silver Sage is a color that borders on neutral yet does not shy away from an ethereal green when contrasted with the brilliance of cherry wood.

Marrying up the two elements will bring balance to the space as they are opposite colors on the spectrum.

When you are aspiring for a bolder interplay of color, why not go organic? Retro Pink by Behr Marquee offers a well-grounded approach for any space you choose.

Its terracotta is calm and sedimentary, with a rustic feel that is purely rooted from its depths. It reflects a sense of organicity that connects with earth’s natural essence as that of cherry wood.

You may find it adventurous to integrate wall colors that are fun and thought provoking with cherry wood’s unique attributes.

Imagine painting an accent wall in your bath space, a sedative teal like that of Vardo by Farrow & Ball to highlight the amber notes featured in your cherry wood.

Pairing contrast colors with that of your flooring will create complementary effects that bring cherry wood to center stage.

Yet…do not forget to bring all other elements featured in your space into the harmony of things, they matter too.

Matching Cherry Wood With Paint

The color of cherry wood depends on whether it’s heartwood or sapwood. Cherry heartwood, taken from the central core of the cherry tree trunk, ranges in color from a light reddish-brown to a deep and rich red.

Planks that are cut from the sapwood of the tree (the softer, more permeable layer that connects the bark to the heartwood) can be a creamy yellow color. Floors are usually made from all heartwood or all sapwood, for a uniform color.

Before visiting the paint counter and cluttering your house with paint swatches, spend some time just observing your floors. Would you call them mostly yellow, red, or brown? Maybe they are brown in the sunlight, but artificial light lets the red shine through.

Make sure to observe them in a variety of conditions and times of the day. Take note of environmental factors, too — does the room you’re painting get a lot of sunlight, or is it mostly shaded?

White

A crisp white paint with gleaming cherry wood floors is a classic look. You can’t go wrong with any bright, cool white paint. These tend to have names like ‘paper white’, ‘crisp white’ or ‘extra white’. ‘Decorator’s white’ colored paint will absolutely complement your cherry wood floors.

Neutral whites (e.g. ‘pure white’, ‘simple white’) are a safe, but uninspiring choice. Avoid warm whites with yellow undertones. They don’t clash with cherry wood floors, but they don’t do anything to enhance them, either.

For those who have dark color wood floors and want a more beige color, the paint color Sherwin Williams Tres Naturale could be a good choice. See more paint color ideas for dark wood floors here.

Green

Sage green might be the perfect color to pair with cherry wood floors. It provides just enough contrast to be visually interesting.

Any soft, cool green color, will bring out the beautiful red tones of the wood, while feeling soft and inviting. Pastel green can create a subtle neutral feel.

Look for paint colors with names like ‘fern’, ‘pear’ ‘pine’ or ‘basil’. Stay away from greens with yellow undertones, such as olive, lime, or chartreuse.

Dark green paint provides a low contrast in much the same way as dark blue. However, the green will generally offer slightly less contrast than blue. When considering dark green shades choose one that does not have a lot of yellow to avoid the color clashing with the red found in the color of the floors.

Blue

Blue paint and cherry wood floors were made for each other. The key to using blue paint to accentuate your cherry floors is to think in terms of contrast. If you have light sapwood floors, consider a dark blue for high contrast.

A rich reddish heartwood floor can also be subtly enhanced by dark blue. A lighter blue paired with dark wood will make a big impact, drawing focus and attention to the red tones in the floor.

Gray

Painting your walls grey won’t detract from your cherry wood floors, but it won’t highlight them in any way, either.

Note that after a few years, you may notice that the paint color doesn’t look quite right anymore. This is because cherry wood will darken in color over time as it’s exposed to UV rays from natural sunlight.

Luckily, updating the paint color on your walls to match your wood floors is one of the easiest and cheapest adjustments to make. There’s a paint color to match any shade of cherry wood floors. A couple gray colors to consider are Sherwin Williams Aleutian, or Sherwin Williams Gray Clouds.

Colors to Avoid With Cherry Wood Flooring

Yellow

Yellow paint is very difficult to pair successfully with cherry wood floors. If you must have yellow walls, look to warm, buttery yellows rather than neutral or cool yellows.

Red

Since all cherry wood has some red undertones, using red paint is an enticing but tricky proposition. You don’t want to overwhelm the room. One option is to paint a red accent wall. You’ll want the paint color to match the red tone of the wood exactly.

For the best results, bring a sample of your floorboard (ideally treated identically to the floors) to the paint counter and ask for help. To highlight the reddish tone in the wood, you can use dark and muted red paint.

On the other hand, maybe you’ve found that the rich red tones of the cherry wood floor are overwhelming the other elements in the room or house.

The solution to too much red is to use red paint only as an accent color. Another option, perhaps counterintuitively is adding more red — specifically terracotta. Introducing terracotta paint will help turn down the volume on the red in your cherry wood floor.

What is your favorite paint colors that go with cherry wood floors? Let us know below in the comments. For more related content visit our page on paint colors that go with red oak floors.