Trend To Try: Patterned Wood Floors

Design

Jun. 25

Reclaimed wood is so beautiful and I'm so glad it's really trendy right now, because it's a great way to be sustainable when renovating or building a home. Reclaimed wood floors are also lovely because they add character and are durable. And really, they're not trendy because they're a classic.

If you're looking for that wow factor for your flooring, getting to know the difference in patterns, and then spending some time handcrafting and laying the reclaimed wood in a patterned design is the way to go.

(Click photos for sources)

An interesting look is the herringbone pattern; it reminds me of the villas in Italy I saw when visiting a few years ago. With equal sized planks laid with the straight edges butting together, it creates a long zig-zag that looks great in a large space to make it feel even larger. It's harder to pull off in a small room though, as it can make it feel to busy and cramped.

What pattern for wood floors is the best

Then there's the chevron pattern, where the planks are cut at a diagonal. This makes a more pronounced and straight-lined zig zag. Both the herringone and chevron pattern do create more waste than simply laying straight planks, so be conscious of this if thinking about doing it throughout your whole home. Or perhaps use the waste for an art project?

Parquet is technically a floor composed of short strips or blocks of wood forming a pattern, with inlays of other wood or materials. So while it could describe many different patterns including chevron and herringbone, when I think of parquet I think of the classic box shapes. I like this traditional look, which can be updated by staining or whitewashing. The sky is the the limit with parquet patterns, and it really is an art to show off.

Another option for hardwood floors is to break it up so that the directions are switched between spaces. Not something I usallly recommend as it will break up the flow of a small home, but in a grand space it looks kinda neat.