The Latest in Wood Flooring

Hardwood floors are one of the most important design elements in your home or business. Wood adds value and comfort to any decor — no matter what your style preference happens to be. According to WoodFloorDoctor.com, using wood for floors dates back as far as 1625. This means wood flooring is one of the oldest product categories in the home building industry. Nevertheless, the category is robust with new (and old) products.

Manufacturers have developed durable finishes and stains that provide a variety of looks, more companies are offering reclaimed products in a variety of species and manufacturers are finding more ways to add a new twist to an old product.

One of those twists on an old material is from Bolefloor, a Netherlands-based company. It is billed as the world’s first industrial-scale manufactured hardwood flooring with curves that follow a tree’s natural growth.

Another new flooring option is Virtu from West Nyack, N.Y.–based Virtu Wood Flooring. Unlike most engineered-wood floors, Virtu is a 3⁄4-inch-thick, wide-plank engineered product that’s made up of just three layers. The result is a product offering 67 percent less movement than a solid wide-plank floor. Due to its True Balanced Construction, Virtu develops much smaller gaps during the heating season compared to solid wood flooring and will maintain its dimensional stability through seasonal changes.

By now everyone is familiar with bamboo flooring, which is usually lumped into the wood category. In addition to bamboo, San Francisco–based Smith & Fong offers flooring made from coconut and sugar palm. Deco palm products are an assemblage of the full range of textures and rich colors inherent to this species of palm. The products are formaldehyde-free and are available prefinished in random lengths.

The beauty and benefits of wood remain the same as they have been for many years: The product is durable and environmentally friendly (when harvested responsibly) and offers many design options.   

With advances in the industry over the past few decades, customizing your wood floor is easier and more affordable than ever before. You can create a unique look with simple upgrades such as borders, medallions, hand distressing, painting, mixed media and exotic wood species.

Terri Parsons, Principal Interior Designer, Allied Member ASID, NKBA
Anne Parsons Interiors
760-525-2501 | anneparsonsinteriors.com