Bespoke Flooring - Ideas for Truly Unique Solid Wo
Solid wood floors are a popular choice for homes and businesses because they look so beautiful in any setting. They have a natural appearance and are warmer to the eye and touch than a tile or vinyl floor.
Bespoke solid wood flooring offers the home or business owner many practical benefits. For example, solid wood floors and particularly bespoke flooring, can add value to a property and they are extremely easy to keep clean. And some types of bespoke flooring, such as distressed flooring will require practically no maintenance.
Depending on the type of solid wood floor and finish you choose, bespoke flooring can also be very durable. This makes it able to withstand every day wear and tear, making it suitable for a wide range of locations including hallways, lounges and reception areas.
You can make your own bespoke flooring truly unique and really create a wow factor with the seemingly limitless possibilities on offer. For example with parquet flooring you can design any floor pattern in any combination of wood types with borders and motifs so the options are endless. Read on for our top suggestions on creating a truly unique solid wood floor!
Bespoke Flooring - click here to view our solid wood flooring products or contact us to discuss your ideas
Choose an Unusual Wood
There is a vast array of types of wood available to create your bespoke flooring. Some of these woods are very familiar, such as oak, walnut, maple and beech. Others are less well known such Merbau, Wenge or Burmese Teak.
If you want to steer away from the most popular wood choices, then dont choose a solid oak floor. Whilst this comes in a wide variety of varieties and finishes and can therefore be customised to suit your tastes and décor, it is not what you would call unusual. Other popular light woods include Beech and maple - and these are great choices for a relaxed contemporary setting. Black Walnut is the most commonly selected wood for dark wood floors.
For something different consider an exotic wood species. These are rarer and less easy to source, so will make your home or commercial premises stand out. Merbau is a medium to dark reddish brown wood whereas Wenge is almost black in appearance with a fine purple hue in the grain. Burmese Teak is a deep rich medium brown with some yellow flecks in the grain.
Add a Parquet Border or Floor Medallion
To give an additional stamp of individuality to bespoke flooring you can add a border or floor medallion to create interest and drama to your solid wood floor.
Borders and floor medallions are recommended with parquet floors due to the minimal movement of that solid wood flooring type. Both borders and medallions can also be installed with unfinished solid wood floors and engineered flooring too.
Parquet borders come in hundreds of designs and can be made from any wood type in a variety of combinations. They work particularly well when light and medium or dark woods are combined together to provide a stunning contrast of tones. They are available in many different lengths to fit a variety of room sizes.
Parquet Medallions are also available in assorted sizes and can combine two or three different wood species. Again a mixture of light and dark woods give floor medallions a dramatic edge in the centre of a solid wood floor.
Choose End Grain Flooring
A very unique type of bespoke flooring can be achieved by laying End Grain Blocks. End Grain flooring is produced by cutting across the natural grain of the wood. This compares to strip flooring, which is cut along the natural grain. The result is that the appearance of End Grain Floors differ quite considerably to normal flooring.
End grain flooring is available in many different widths, lengths and thicknesses to suit your premises. It comes in popular wood varieties such as oak and pine and also in a couple of lesser used types, spruce and larch.
The unique smaller, sometimes swirling patterns of End Grain Blocks coupled with a more unusual wood type makes this a very individual choice for your bespoke flooring. For use in the home, End Grain Blocks have superb durability so are suited perfectly to hallways and even kitchens due to their very hard quality.
End Grain Blocks can also be effective in commercial properties too. Its decorative look suits public areas in hotel lobbies, restaurants and shop floors and its durability makes it ideal for factories.
To install an End Grain Block floor it needs to be glued to a concrete or plywood sub floor with epoxy/PU 2 part adhesive.
Ask Us About Our Range of Finishes
There is a vast selection of finishes on offer to enhance the natural beauty of your bespoke flooring.
These range from traditional matt, satin and gloss lacquers, coloured wood stains and satin and matt oils to heat based treatments such as fumed, smoked and thermo treated.
Some finishes use machinery to achieve a certain look, such as bevelled and tumbled. With a bevelled finish the edges of the wood are chamfered which means the edge of each plank, connecting two surfaces, are at right angles to each other.
With a tumbled finish the timber is put into a special piece of machinery and the wood is literally tumbled around with metal items such as screws, ball bearings and bolts. This makes the wood look aged and its coarser texture gives it a rustic, lived in feel.
Bespoke staining in any shade can also be provided to naturally enhance the wood you have chosen. Stains come in many different shades and compliment and deepen the natural tones of your wood floor. A stain alone will not protect your floor from wear and tear so it must have a further sealant applied on top.
Bespoke Flooring - click here to view our solid wood flooring products or contact us to discuss your ideas
