Whether or not you are up on the latest wood flooring trends for 2020, your wood floor can never go out of style. Timber flooring is ageless and is compatible with any indoor home décor.
Trends in wood flooring are hard to predict. Some home owners prefer to buck the trends, and others feel more comfortable complying with the latest offerings. These trends can reflect changes in colour, pattern, type of wood, and finishing.
Let’s take a look.
Healthy flooring
With the continuing trend towards healthier lifestyles, home-owners are moving away from the toxic finishes and glues of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Formaldehydes. Fortunately, many wood flooring companies have already substituted these toxic chemicals with both environmentally-friendly and health-conscious alternatives in their stains, finishes, and glues.
Fuming
Don’t worry, it won’t make you angry. Otherwise known as smoking, but only because of the look, not the process. The process involves exposing the wood to ammonia. The result is a change in colour. Fumed wood undergoes a very natural-looking transformation, which brings out the natural grain of the wood. The wood darkens, but not uniformly. It is altered in a creative way that will inspire you to treat your furniture with the same look.
Biophilic interiors
Biophilic design has had a significant influence on interior decorating and architecture. This creative process involves bringing the natural world indoors – both literally and figuratively. Real plants, or motifs imitating greenery and rockery, are both incorporated into biophilic designs. What does this mean for wood flooring? Of course, the natural look of wood flooring complements the look of the room, and often offsets the rather cool look of the biophilic blues, greys, and greens, with the warm look of natural wood. Leaving a wood floor naturally unfinished is becoming a trend in its own right!
Parquet styling
Most agree that diagonally-positioned planks, and indeed, any geometric placing of wood flooring, are attractive and trendy flooring styles. This applies particularly to zigzagged Herringbone and Chevron flooring designs. The herringbone pattern represents a non-contiguous pattern, similar to the shape of a fish bone. The Chevron design is a continuous V-shaped pattern, and can take on a particularly unique look when you install it using a number of different stains.
Colours
Warm red oaks are falling by the wayside, in favour of the lighter white oak. However, if your heart is set on warmer flooring, go for it! In any case, both solid wood and engineered flooring will bring you many years of comfort and enjoyment, and the red oak tree could very soon become the flavour of the year again. Of course, you can always refinish your floors to comply with the latest trend. One point in favour of neutral and light wood floor colouring, is that the colours can be blended. Patterns of colour are in favour, as are the burned textured looks of grey and blue flooring. If you really want to stand out from the crowd, paint your wood floors. Well, maybe not purple with green stripes. However, bathrooms and kitchens, in particular, blend well with brightly coloured floors. Paint it blue, or just go ahead, and Paint it Black!
This post was written by Martin O’Callaghan, founder of Wood Flooring Ireland. Martin has been in the parquet industry for over 30 years gaining vast experience in the industry. They specialise in handmade bespoke wood flooring.
