A TOUCH OF CREATIVE HARDWOOD FLOORING
The recovering U.S. housing market has led to increased demand for certain luxury items, including hardwood flooring. Exciting trends are influencing the marketplace and for today’s consumers, there are more hardwood floor options than ever before.
Hardwood Floor Design Trends
- Using multiple hardswood species is very popular, typically using one species in the main field of the room, then introducing other contrasting species incorporated as a border or other subtle design element in the room.
- Mixed media incorporates hardwood with other flooring options like stone, tile, carpet or even metal. This approach often helps to define different seating or functional areas within a large, open space.
- Installing wood floors in a non-linear format is increasingly popular as well. Custom parquet patterns can achieve this look, but even traditional linear floors can accomplish the same goal by installing the linear pattern on a curve.
- Consumer preferences are gravitating toward darker species, like walnut, over the traditional, medium colored white and red oak. In many cases, however, existing oak floors are being refinished and stained to achieve this look without replacing the floor.
- Buyers are moving away from the traditional 2 ¼” strip floor towider plank flooring, 3” and wider. Random width wood planks are also popular. This creates a very casual look, while utilizing more of the raw materials during the manufacturing process.
- Distressed Hardwood Flooring – hand – scraping the boards to achieve an antiqued look, and at the same time hiding small imperfections that can appear in flooring over time, like small scratches or dents. This distressed effect that can also be achieved in the factory.
STAINS AND FINISHES
Flooring manufacturers are introducing new lines geared to satisfy the emerging trends toward gray stains and finished – ranging from very subtle to very dark – and metallic finishes.
These woods incorporate softly shimmering metallic accents by embedding the metallic materials into the hardwood. The result is a pronounce gain that shimmers softly in contrast to the rest of the wood . It is difficult to predict if this trend will catch on long-term, but it has become increasingly popular, particularly here on the West Coast.
As the U.S. economy continues to recover, more and more consumers will enhance their living spaces with hardwood flooring, the ultimate in value, versatility and style.