Once the floor is dark, the rug is the biggest decision in the room. A dark rug on a dark floor disappears, and the furniture looks like it is floating in a hole. A pale rug does the opposite. It draws a clear shape on the floor and tells you where the room is.

Jute is my first answer, because its warm straw color looks almost golden against black. Annie Selke's Harwich and McGee & Co.'s Girona are classic handwoven jute, chunky and a little rough, very good under a dining table. Lulu and Georgia's Yves and Anthropologie's Lorne are similar with a slightly tighter weave. The Hagan from Lulu and Georgia blends jute with something softer, which I would choose for a living room where people sit on the floor.

If you want pattern, keep it light. McGee & Co.'s wool and jute checkered rug and Anthropologie's hand-loomed striped rug both have a pale ground with just enough texture to hide the dust a dark floor attracts. Annie Selke's Honeycomb rug in French blue and ivory is the one bit of color I would allow, and blue on black looks crisp rather than cold.

Size up. On a dark floor, a rug that is too small looks like a bath mat, and the black around it makes the gap more obvious. I would rather have one big rug under the whole seating group than two small ones.

The furniture is where a black floor pays off. Pale wood against it has the same satisfying snap as a cream shirt with black trousers, and you do not need much of it to feel the effect.

I would start with the pieces that sit lowest, because they touch the floor most visibly. Jenni Kayne's oak Day bench at the foot of a bed or under a window is simple and solid. McGee & Co.'s Posie side table is small and rounded, and their Wilkins and Dana nightstands in oak and white oak bring the same warmth to a bedroom. In a kitchen, Anthropologie's Heritage ash counter stool and the Irie in oak with a velvet seat both look bright against a dark floor. Nathan James' Scandinavian counter stool pairs pale wood with faux leather, which is practical if you have kids who eat breakfast at the counter. For storage, the Nathan James rounded bookshelf has five open shelves in light wood with softened corners, so it looks less boxy.

Keep metal accents warm, too. Brass and aged bronze pick up the golden tone of oak and jute, while chrome can look cold against a black floor. A single brass lamp or a pair of brass-footed stools is usually enough.

What I would skip: black or espresso furniture on a black floor, at least for your first few pieces. It can look striking in a magazine, but at home it tends to swallow the room, and you lose the contrast that made you want a dark floor in the first place.

I am firmly in favor of dark floors, with one condition: they need light things on top. The floor is a background, like a black mat around a photograph, and it only works if there is something pale for it to frame.

If you take one thing away, let it be this: order samples of the floor and a jute swatch together, lay them side by side in your own light, and decide from there. A black floor looks completely different at noon and at nine at night. Once you have seen it with a pale rug and a piece of oak on top, you will know within a minute whether it is right for your home, and you will choose with far fewer regrets. And keep a soft broom by the door. You will use it more than you expect.