Hybrid flooring colours

The colour of a hybrid floor is a printed picture. It sits near the top of the plank, under a clear layer that protects it. Most pictures show timber. Some show stone. Because the colour is printed, one range can come in many colours. A range is one product line from one supplier. In November 2026 we read the colour names on the suppliers' own pages for 70 hybrid ranges. Blackbutt and Spotted Gum were the two names we found most often.

Where the colour comes from

A hybrid plank has layers. The design layer holds the printed picture of the timber or stone. A clear layer on top, called the wear layer, protects it. The surface often has a fine texture, so the plank does not look flat. Many planks also have a small sloped edge, called a bevel. It makes each plank easy to see.

The picture is printed, so it repeats. Each colour has a fixed number of different plank pictures. With more pictures, the same plank shows up less often in the floor. You can ask the supplier how many different plank pictures a colour has.

The colour names we found most often

We read the colour names of 70 hybrid ranges. A range page does not always show every colour of the range, so each number below means "at least".

• Blackbutt: 56 ranges had a colour with this word in its name.
• Spotted Gum: 55 ranges.
• Both Blackbutt and Spotted Gum: 53 ranges.
• Oak: 40 ranges. Of these, 12 had a colour named Tasmanian Oak or Tassie Oak. Tassie is a short name for Tasmanian.
• Grey: 18 ranges.
• White: 7 ranges.
• Other timber names: Hickory on 4 ranges, Walnut on 3, Brushbox on 3 and Jarrah on 2.

A colour name is the supplier's own label. Two colours with the same name from two suppliers can look different. Compare the pictures, not the names.

Blackbutt hybrid flooring

Blackbutt is an Australian timber. It is pale, from golden yellow to light brown, with a fairly even colour. A Blackbutt hybrid floor shows a picture of that timber. We found a Blackbutt colour on 56 of the 70 ranges.

Many Blackbutt colours have a second word in the name. We found Coastal Blackbutt on 4 ranges, New England Blackbutt on 4 ranges and Natural Blackbutt on 3 ranges. More than one supplier used each of these names. So a Coastal Blackbutt from one supplier can look different from a Coastal Blackbutt from another.

Spotted Gum hybrid flooring

Spotted Gum is an Australian timber too. It varies more than Blackbutt, from light brown to dark brown, and the lines in the timber can be wavy. We found a Spotted Gum colour on 55 of the 70 ranges. How much a hybrid floor changes from plank to plank depends on the supplier's pictures.

Here the second word was often a place. We found NSW Spotted Gum on 5 ranges, Northern Spotted Gum on 3 ranges and Coastal Spotted Gum on 3 ranges. NSW is short for New South Wales.

Oak hybrid flooring

Colours with oak in the name come in many shades, from pale to grey to dark. We found a colour with the word oak in its name on 40 of the 70 ranges.

• Natural oak. Natural Oak or Oak Natural was part of a colour name on 5 ranges.
• Light oak. No colour was named Light Oak. Pale names were Pale Oak, Blonde Oak and White Oak. We found one of these on 5 ranges.
• Grey oak. Grey Oak was part of a colour name on 3 ranges.
• Tasmanian Oak. This is a different timber from oak. It is the name that pale timbers grown in Tasmania are sold under. We found Tasmanian Oak or Tassie Oak on 12 of the 40 ranges.

Grey, white and dark hybrid flooring

• Grey. 18 ranges had a colour with the word grey in its name.
• White. 7 ranges had a colour with the word white in its name.
• Dark and black. 6 ranges had a colour with the word dark, black, ebony, onyx or midnight in its name. Ebony, onyx and midnight are names for black or very dark colours.

A light floor can make a room look brighter. A dark floor can show dust and fine marks more easily. Both are a matter of taste and of the light in your rooms.

Jarrah and walnut hybrid flooring

Jarrah is a timber from Western Australia with a deep red-brown colour. Walnut is a dark brown timber. Both names were less common in the pages we read. We found a Walnut colour on 3 of the 70 ranges and a Jarrah colour on 2 ranges. If you want a red-brown or dark brown floor, also look at the darker Spotted Gum colours.

Stone look hybrid flooring and hybrid tiles

Some hybrid floors show stone or concrete, not timber. Some of them are made in a tile shape, so the floor looks like tiles. People also call these hybrid tiles or hybrid vinyl tiles. They are still hybrid planks that click together.

• 9 of the 70 ranges had a colour named after a stone or concrete, such as Slate, Granite, Limestone or Marble. A name does not always tell you the look, so check the picture.
• Tile shapes were not common. Of the 111 ranges in our wider reading, 4 listed a tile shape.

How many colours a range has

We also read how many colours each range has. On 91 of 111 ranges, the page gave the number.

• The most common number was 10 colours. We found it on 28 ranges.
• 73 of the 91 ranges had from 6 to 12 colours.
• The smallest range had 2 colours.
• Three ranges of one supplier showed 20 to 26. On those pages the number counts planks and tiles together.

How to choose a colour

1. Start with the things that stay in the room. Look at your kitchen cabinets, benchtops and large furniture, and choose a floor that sits well beside them.
2. Think about the light. A room with little daylight often suits a lighter floor.
3. Decide how much change you want from plank to plank. An even colour gives a quiet, even floor. A colour with more change can hide daily dust and marks better.
4. Look at photos of the whole floor laid in a room, not only a close-up photo of one plank.
5. Screens show colours differently. Do not judge a colour from one screen. Look at several photos, and at photos taken in daylight.
6. Order the whole floor at once where you can. Planks made at different times can differ a little in colour. Ask the supplier if your boxes come from one batch.