How would you describe your personal home décor style?
This is the first question you should ask when you begin thinking about replacing old flooring. Spend some time in your favorite room and make a note of the features that make it feel like home to you. Is your style bohemian eclectic? Classic coastal style? Modern minimalistic? Knowing the style you like will help you make decisions about the details, like flooring.
For example, a traditional bohemian style favors dark, brooding woods with antique finishes. Coastal chic tends to be lighter and more natural. Modern minimalism, on the other hand, favors something sleek and polished. When it comes to flooring, all of these looks (and more) can be achieved by customizing color, sheen, and texture.
Color
When choosing your hardwood floor color, you should consider the existing color palette in your home and choose something to complement it. However, that’s not the only consideration. Lighter color floors can open up a small room where dark colors may make it appear even smaller. On the other hand, if your home is home to lots of messy animals and children who frequently track in dirt, dark floors are your friend. What are some color trends we’re expecting to see in 2022?
- Gray has remained a popular wood floor color for some years, and we don’t expect that to change in 2022. Gray is a great neutral color that allows you to walk the line between light and dark.
- Whitened, or bleached, wood floors like Whiteface in our Great Camps Collection will be trending in 2022 as designers continue to favor Scandinavian chic and shabby chic coastal flavor.
- Because grays and whites have been on trend for several years, we suspect that rich dark woods like Silhouette and Intrigue in our Provenza Affinity Collection are on the style horizon, especially rich walnut.
Sheen
Sheen is the luster or gloss level of your floor, and it has a big impact on the overall atmosphere of a design space. Glossier floors tend to look more modern whereas matte floors give a more rustic, farmhouse flavor. Be warned: the glossier a floor, the more dirt, imperfections, and wear and tear show up. Hardwood floor gloss finishes fit into four main categories:
- Matte finish, at about 25% luster, offers a natural look that’s great for high traffic homes.
- Satin finish, at about 40% luster, is a classic style that looks newer longer.
- Semi-gloss finish, at about 55% luster, is brilliant but does require more upkeep than satin.
- Gloss finish, at about 70% luster, is more likely to show up in a bowling alley than in a home as it needs to be cleaned frequently and shows imperfections with glaring detail.
Texture
So much about the livability of a space comes down to texture. It affects the appearance and the feeling of your floors, so it’s an important part of customization. There are four main categories of texture:
- Smooth floors appear uniform and clean as knots and grains have been sanded flat.
- Reclaimed floors are perfect for renovating old Victorian and Empire buildings as they show off their worn imperfections, creating a cozy, loved appearance.
- Aged, distressed floors share the natural, weathered appearance of reclaimed wood, but the effect is achieved by scraping and scuffing to give newer wood Old World charm.
- Wire brushed wood flooring goes a step further, drawing attention to the individual character of boards by treating them with a wire brush to distinguish good grain.
At The Adirondack Wood Floor Co., we customize hard wood and engineered wood floors to your exact specifications. Give us a call or drop an email today to begin planning your next flooring project.
(518) 883-7263
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