Wood Floors...

I traveled through Europe the summer after my senior year of high school. We hit the tourist hit spots and saw some incredible place, art and spaces. I can't wait to take Drewpy back. There was one piece of art that really hit me. Not the Mona Lisa.... I found that very underwhelming. It was, The Floor Planers. Or Les Raboteurs de parquet by Gustave Caillebotte. It was the one postcard/piece of art (besides the snow patrol skiers in their speedo bottoms, because that's just funny!) I bought. I couldn't tell you why I loved it so much I just did.

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Moving on to today I was watching Drew install an engineered, click in, floating wood floor. An interesting material that gets you the look. It would not be the material I out in my dream home, but I can see the benefits it has. I was studying up on the history of wood floors. I like to know the original intent of a feature in a home to best maximize its look.

Wood floors like most materials in homes were used for insulation and only found in the wealthiest of homes. From what I can find they started out as wide planks and quickly moving to parquet pattern for the wealthy. They even started to glue wood planks onto canvas and roll it out onto floors. Nailing in every few feet.

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In my lifetime I think I saw a trend from thin plank wood, to medium plank wood. Real hardwood to engineered look-a-like. I am seeing a trend in some of the higher end homes going back to wood with design. It's something people see as trendy. I disagree. I think it's trending... But if done right, timeless.

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One of the first treatments they did on hardwood was paint. Also coming back. With slow growth wood they simply let people's feet, wear and tear polish their floors. That's a look I would be interested to see come back.

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Original floors were given a V groove on the edge of each plank. Quickly that was ruled out for a more seamless look. I kind of love the look of a notched floor but would hate to keep it clean. Imagine all the gunk build up in the groove.

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Oh but I love the character and charm of reclaimed lumber floors. So much charm. I think a big mistake homeowners make when picking wall color is discounting the effect the color of the floor will have on the walls or vice versa. Your flooring is you second greatest amount of color next to your walls That is a lot of color or shade to take into consideration. What could look tan on a swatch, when set next to the floor will look red or yellow. It's fascinating to see how different paint looks in different spots.

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The floor above is dynamite. All those imperfections. The various plank size. And the stain... I want!

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For my dream home, as of this minute... Ask me in two days and it will be a different story I'm sure... Is either super wide plank floors, or the opposite, narrow 1.5" planks. I think those create the most dimension in a home.

What do you think? Thin, wide, engineered, real wood?