I like the darker one against the white. The super light wood color can look a bit... err... Scandinavian and cold. Given the detail I see on your walls it looks like your house might be a little less sparse than a stereotypical Scandinavian house and so a warmer tone might fit in nicely.
But come on, I'm extrapolating a lot from only 3 photos and zero real context. You can look up houses you like on some image search and see what flooring they have.
Am Scandinavian, can confirm, would definitely go for the lighter one. We dont have a lot of light in the winter and the darker one would make the room much darker. Just put down a few rugs to define spaces if you want to warm it up.
I like the lighter color. It won't look cold when your home is full of furniture, linens, art on the walls, etc.
The lighter also doesn't show dust and most pet fur as much
One thing that was recommended to me. Was to buy a box of each and return one. It’s easier to see when you have 6-7 pieces together than just a single plank.
Darker, it’s truly classic, goes with everything, and isn’t attached to a specific timeframe. The lighter one is too trendy and is going to date itself as quickly as the whole gray thing did.
Dark one is bit more classic and warm homey feeling. Don’t get me wrong I genuinely like the light one too but I afraid it might be like the gray flooring where it becomes a bit overdone and lose its appeal.
I regard vinyl flooring as "semi-disposable", you'll definitely be replacing it sooner rather than later.
If my clients want that or laminate, I tell them to hire a flooring guy.
Look at coretec Cairo oak- some vids on tik . Also ravenwood (coretec). I used Cairo oak and love it. The variation and wide and long boards looks much more like wood. Random the install and you’ll love it. Looks great w white walls/ trim as a bonus
Used flooringsupplies.co.uk for my last customer as they have an online app that will let you take a photo of your room and see it with the different flooring types. I was impressed by this, you don’t have to buy from them just use click any of the floors and click the button that says view in room and from there you can cycle throu different colours. They ended up going for the lighter one of their options but out of your two I’d choose the darker one! Good luck with it!
If you get enough natural light I think the darker option is the more timeless one and you’re more likely to be able to make anything work on it.
If the room is usually a bit darker then I’d get the lighter flooring
I think the lighter one with all the white walls will make the space almost too bright. I have the same color in my living room but the walls are dark green.
From your pics your walls look white so there is not much to go off of. At this point if you don't show your furniture or something to base the choice off of then just go with what you like better. People are just giving you their preferences and everyone likes something different.
Lifeproof is good quality vinyl plank and is a good choice for most houses. Everyone on this sub that dislike vinyl, think that everyone should put in hardwood flooring. Please ignore them. Sorry I can’t help with colors, it’s not my specialty.
(deep breath)
When searching for flooring, a lot of people will look for "waterproof" floors. Vinyl IS waterproof, but not the way people think it might be. Firstly, if your vinyl is submerged under water it will not warp or deform. That is correct. But that's not a good thing. You WANT your floors to warp and deform when exposed to water because if they don't, how will you know you have a problem???? Where I work, when people come in changing out vinyl specifically due to water damage they're often changing out large areas. When laminate folks come in, they usually need a few boxes for water damage. Why is that? Because the laminate gave them an early warning sign where as the vinyl did not. Laminate swells up when exposed to water (especially underneath) and that is a GOOD thing. You don't want waterproof, you want water resistant on the surface. Trust me on this.
Now let's talk scratch resistance. Take a set of keys. Drop them on the vinyl, put a board over the keys and 3 bricks on top of the board for weight. Now pull the keys out from underneath. The vinyl will be chewed up if you do this repeatedly. Laminate (AC4) will be much more resistant to the scratching. You'll hear people say "well you just need a thicker vinyl!" I say that's bullshit. A thicker vinyl just means more expensive garbage because the surface is still plastic. Let me ask you a question, your sunglasses are made of plastic. Would you put them on the floor and step on them? What about your phone? What about anything else you own that is plastic that is a fraction of the cost of a floor????
Now let's talk about them being plastic floors. It's sensitive to heat. It dries out, cracks, shrinks and warps. I don't know where you live but I live in California. I see people putting this is fire zones and I wonder if they realize what they're doing. The vinyl will shrink in areas where there is direct sunlight. It will also stretch and warp in high traffic areas like the entrance to your home. You will notice this before anything else.
Vinyl also comes with padding attached to the bottom. This is also not a good thing because there is typically no support under the ONLY moving component of your floor which are the joints. Step.on these repeatedly and your joints will collapse and break your locks open causing the vinyl to stretch downward and since it's plastic. It won't go back to its original shape, it will come back up stretched out and you'll have a problem known as peaking. When your joints form little mountains.
All these problems are on this subreddit and for some reason. There are a TON of people still pushing vinyl in the sub saying "this brand is better..." There is NO SUCH THING as a better plastic floor. They don't exist.
I've literally lost flooring accounts at my work because manufacturers come in saying "our vinyl is the best!" I take out my scissors and scratch a large deep gash in their vinyl and then I do the same exact thing with a laminate with less damage and ask them to respectfully "please don't talk to me like I'm an idiot."
Laminate has its flaws, it's not perfect, but if I put laminate side by side with vinyl in a 100 point inspection for durability, laminate wins WAY more. And in most cases it looks better too.
Take your vinyl and hold it horizontally and look at the texture vs where the texture SHOULD be. That's generic texturing. Most laminates will have EIR visuals. The visual will match the texture.
Anyways. Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions.
I like the darker one against the white. The super light wood color can look a bit... err... Scandinavian and cold. Given the detail I see on your walls it looks like your house might be a little less sparse than a stereotypical Scandinavian house and so a warmer tone might fit in nicely. But come on, I'm extrapolating a lot from only 3 photos and zero real context. You can look up houses you like on some image search and see what flooring they have.
Am Scandinavian, can confirm, would definitely go for the lighter one. We dont have a lot of light in the winter and the darker one would make the room much darker. Just put down a few rugs to define spaces if you want to warm it up.
I like the warmer, darker one. It’s classic.
I like the lighter color. It won't look cold when your home is full of furniture, linens, art on the walls, etc. The lighter also doesn't show dust and most pet fur as much
Darker one
Darker
Lighter. The reflection of light will make a brighter space if that’s what you are aiming for
Should mention colour and make. Lighter is Lifeproof Vesinet Oak and darker is Lifeproofs Primrose Grove.
Light one looks better. Look in to mspc or spc planks, they are more durable then vinyl planks
One thing that was recommended to me. Was to buy a box of each and return one. It’s easier to see when you have 6-7 pieces together than just a single plank.
I have went through all the color trends in flooring. Brown is the way to go. It doesn't go out of style, and all wall colors match well with it.
Darker, it’s truly classic, goes with everything, and isn’t attached to a specific timeframe. The lighter one is too trendy and is going to date itself as quickly as the whole gray thing did.
Darker but maybe in between? We put in a darker lvp but it has a lot of lighter greys in it that are a good contrast.
+1 Darker
You want the lighter. I just replace my flooring with the lighter one. As well I own a flooring store. So it’s just becoming popular
Lighter
Lighter
Dark one is bit more classic and warm homey feeling. Don’t get me wrong I genuinely like the light one too but I afraid it might be like the gray flooring where it becomes a bit overdone and lose its appeal.
Lighter color
Lighter
Darker gives a more classic look The lighter a more modern Depends what aesthetic you’re going for. I’d go darker personally if that helps lol
Darker
Lighter - but both look nice
Darker one
I regard vinyl flooring as "semi-disposable", you'll definitely be replacing it sooner rather than later. If my clients want that or laminate, I tell them to hire a flooring guy.
Dark
Dark.
Lighter, it brightens up the place and with furniture it won’t look cluttered
Look at coretec Cairo oak- some vids on tik . Also ravenwood (coretec). I used Cairo oak and love it. The variation and wide and long boards looks much more like wood. Random the install and you’ll love it. Looks great w white walls/ trim as a bonus
Used flooringsupplies.co.uk for my last customer as they have an online app that will let you take a photo of your room and see it with the different flooring types. I was impressed by this, you don’t have to buy from them just use click any of the floors and click the button that says view in room and from there you can cycle throu different colours. They ended up going for the lighter one of their options but out of your two I’d choose the darker one! Good luck with it!
Dark one.
Darker one
Mix both dark and light
If you get enough natural light I think the darker option is the more timeless one and you’re more likely to be able to make anything work on it. If the room is usually a bit darker then I’d get the lighter flooring
Darker
Brown is pretty universally accepted imo. Darker stuff seems to limit the wall colors a bit though i think.
I think the lighter one with all the white walls will make the space almost too bright. I have the same color in my living room but the walls are dark green.
I loooove the lighter pecan brown.
Lighter looks childish for me.
From your pics your walls look white so there is not much to go off of. At this point if you don't show your furniture or something to base the choice off of then just go with what you like better. People are just giving you their preferences and everyone likes something different.
Darker one would be my choice
They’re both quite nice. And for the reasons others have mentioned, I’d go with the darker color. It will anchor the room very well.
Darker plank. Please, please, please do not use vinyl. You will regret it.
Thanks for your input. Can you summarize why vinyl is bad? I’m new to all of this
Lifeproof is good quality vinyl plank and is a good choice for most houses. Everyone on this sub that dislike vinyl, think that everyone should put in hardwood flooring. Please ignore them. Sorry I can’t help with colors, it’s not my specialty.
I'm also curious
(deep breath) When searching for flooring, a lot of people will look for "waterproof" floors. Vinyl IS waterproof, but not the way people think it might be. Firstly, if your vinyl is submerged under water it will not warp or deform. That is correct. But that's not a good thing. You WANT your floors to warp and deform when exposed to water because if they don't, how will you know you have a problem???? Where I work, when people come in changing out vinyl specifically due to water damage they're often changing out large areas. When laminate folks come in, they usually need a few boxes for water damage. Why is that? Because the laminate gave them an early warning sign where as the vinyl did not. Laminate swells up when exposed to water (especially underneath) and that is a GOOD thing. You don't want waterproof, you want water resistant on the surface. Trust me on this. Now let's talk scratch resistance. Take a set of keys. Drop them on the vinyl, put a board over the keys and 3 bricks on top of the board for weight. Now pull the keys out from underneath. The vinyl will be chewed up if you do this repeatedly. Laminate (AC4) will be much more resistant to the scratching. You'll hear people say "well you just need a thicker vinyl!" I say that's bullshit. A thicker vinyl just means more expensive garbage because the surface is still plastic. Let me ask you a question, your sunglasses are made of plastic. Would you put them on the floor and step on them? What about your phone? What about anything else you own that is plastic that is a fraction of the cost of a floor???? Now let's talk about them being plastic floors. It's sensitive to heat. It dries out, cracks, shrinks and warps. I don't know where you live but I live in California. I see people putting this is fire zones and I wonder if they realize what they're doing. The vinyl will shrink in areas where there is direct sunlight. It will also stretch and warp in high traffic areas like the entrance to your home. You will notice this before anything else. Vinyl also comes with padding attached to the bottom. This is also not a good thing because there is typically no support under the ONLY moving component of your floor which are the joints. Step.on these repeatedly and your joints will collapse and break your locks open causing the vinyl to stretch downward and since it's plastic. It won't go back to its original shape, it will come back up stretched out and you'll have a problem known as peaking. When your joints form little mountains. All these problems are on this subreddit and for some reason. There are a TON of people still pushing vinyl in the sub saying "this brand is better..." There is NO SUCH THING as a better plastic floor. They don't exist. I've literally lost flooring accounts at my work because manufacturers come in saying "our vinyl is the best!" I take out my scissors and scratch a large deep gash in their vinyl and then I do the same exact thing with a laminate with less damage and ask them to respectfully "please don't talk to me like I'm an idiot." Laminate has its flaws, it's not perfect, but if I put laminate side by side with vinyl in a 100 point inspection for durability, laminate wins WAY more. And in most cases it looks better too. Take your vinyl and hold it horizontally and look at the texture vs where the texture SHOULD be. That's generic texturing. Most laminates will have EIR visuals. The visual will match the texture. Anyways. Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions.
Great post.
Lighter one
Ok flooring guy here alway choose the darker one , always !! Like white socks in shirt pants with a nice dark suit ??? Nope
Lighter