It depends on how much light and what color paint is in the room also, IMO. We put dark wood floor in our living room which is 16x20 and it didn't make any difference in the size it seemed, but really improved the look. And I hate carpet.

It may make the ceiling feel lower. Dark floors are better in rooms with higher ceilings.

We had friends who recently stained the floors almost black, and they painted the walls and trim white. I was surprised to find that the rooms felt lighter, brighter, larger when they were done. (They've really regretted the dark floors due to dust showing though. They are happy to be moving. haha!) Anyway, it was just gorgeous. They do have high ceilings though, which could be a factor. The floors are quite elegant looking. Here's a look:

white room....

vs. a brown room in the same house...

vs. a light colored room....

They look beautiful-thank you everyone for taking time to respond and for the pictures!

I've had a dark floor before and would never do it again because it's so hard to keep clean looking...dust shows!

There's dark flooring and then there is really dark flooring - know what I mean? I have original oak floors in my 1910 brick bungalow. They are dark, maybe an oak stain, but not dark as in walnut stain or black. They are also not golden oak nor does the finish have any red in it. I have these floors in all the rooms except for the kitchen, bath, and laundry room. I do not think they show dust much at all (and I am not a cleaning freak). Dust will show on really dark floors, also pet hair. I do have 9 ft. ceilings and lots of windows in the house. The only area that is dark IMO is the long hallway, which was recently painted white and is now somewhat lighter.

Teresa

This is my wood floors:

I too thought long and hard about this since I live in a small space, but the wide plank/dark won out over "honey spice" color.
They appear a little lighter because of the flash. They do show dust but I don't care because since they are dark & "hand scraped look" it is easier to cover up scratches(they are not the best quality wood/finish unfortunately). Even in a small room with a paint like BM urban nature or wind chime the floors/walls look great, all trim is white. Different types of white(layering) walls would look great with dark floors too. HTH

We were going to put dark wood in the kitchen with our dark wood cabinets, but after laying out some planks, I decided it was just tooooo much dark wood.

So in a room like young-gardener posted, where the floor is dark, but the rest of the room is white, it looks great. If the walls were dark too, I think it would really close it in.

What did you decide? My mom loathes her dark floors, although they are quite beautiful in her small space, She cannot keep those floors looking clean. She has lots of light coming in her room, so every speck of dust, animal fur, lint, etc. shows easily.

If you are a wonder woman sweeper, go for it! They do look gorgeous when kept clean. Me, not a duster...... The piece of furniture in my house that I like the least is a dark walnut cabinet from Crate&Barrel.

Two family members got the brazilian cherry floors put in their homes some years back, they are always "swiffering" them so the dust doesn't show. They are rich looking but I would choose the oak flooring our daughter and SIL got, it's a medium color, not too light or too dark.

What about using one of those robot vacuums that can be set to run every day if you have dark floors?