Interior design is a serious business. So much so, that it can affect human mood and mental health. Yep, colors and decor placement can make a person healthy or sick.
With that in mind, if you’re an interior designer who knows their stuff, then you know that overlooking a home’s flooring would be a tragic mistake. If you’re a true artist, you know that getting a jump start on hardwood floor trends ahead of next year is a good idea.
We’ll be looking at eight of the newest, hottest flooring trends that will be treading across people’s custom designed homes next year. Yep, get started now and be an interior designer that’s in demand.
Read on for all eight of the trendiest hardwood floor designs!
Hardwood Floor Trends: Not Your Grandma’s Linoleum
If you’re into sustainable interior designs that look incredible while helping the planet and your clients, then you know engineered flooring is where it’s at.
As technology and manufacturing advance, more wood competitors are coming out with different options. Laminate, vinyl, and even tile are trying to steal the show with imitated looks. A quick search online will show lots of disappointed homeowners that thought they could have the look and feel like wood from tile. It just doesn’t happen feel the same under foot.
We’re going to stick to real hardwood here.
1. Parquet Wood is Making a Comeback
Parquet flooring is a long-standing interior designer favorite for good reason. Sure, homes were rocking this look back when Carol Brady was bell-bottomed, but it’s seeing a return. It’s best on display in a foyer entrance, but with options like herringbone or chevron and brick, there’s no limit to styles.
However, it would be best in large spaces like living rooms are wide entrances.
2. Wide Plank Flooring
Planks are as sturdy and as lovely as parquet, but you can install engineered wood planks everywhere. There are no limitations to what you can do. While solid wood looks amazing anywhere, you can’t install solid wood with radiant heating or in basements and climates with higher moisture. Enter engineered flooring!
3. Colors that Pop on Hardwood
2017’s hardwood flooring colors were all about extremes. This year, and headed into 2019, those extremes have gotten even crazier. There’s also been a return to classy, muted looks as well. Espresso and other dark stains are reminiscent of olde English homes. Black Walnut flooring provides a naturally dark look that hearkens to mid-century styles.
If you want to avoid the closing-off and minimizing effect of a super dark floor, go with the blondes or very bright whitewashes over wide plank White Oak. This will give a breezy, beachy effect.
Gray is another stunning effect, but be careful with this option. It might seem like a good idea to your client, but you need to take the rest of the home into consideration.
4. Texture Takes Center Stage
Hand-scraped, wire brushed, and distressed. Sounds like a type of jeans you’d custom order from an expensive European boutique. It’s also what’s hip with hardwood flooring.
These styles lend a lived-in, homey feel to custom homes that are actually brand new. It also provides a contrast to new, structured furniture and colors. Distressed flooring can bring a nautical or Tudor feel to a home that’s otherwise very modern.
5. Reclaimed Wood- What’s Old is New
Recycling at its finest. And a great way to distinguish yourself as a progressive, mindful interior designer. When you use old building materials in a new home, you’re making both a design statement and an awareness statement.
It’s also a great way to get a distressed wood without needing to put it through the distressing process, which can add up in time and cost!
6. Sustainable Resources
Bamboo and cork are among the materials coming into trend. They’re sustainable and renewable, with loads of personality and hip eco-friendly aspects. But they can be cranky to take care of, so be aware that these materials do better in drier climates. They also can not be refinished in the future like wood floors can.
As a designer, you can rest assured that these newer materials will be in high demand in the years to come as more and more homeowners switch to earth-friendly building materials.
Engineered wood is where it’s at with renewable and sustainable flooring.
7. Made In America
This is a hot trend that’s leading to very in demand and highly priced wood flooring. Some homeowners are very loyal to this movement and will not install anything that isn’t made in the US. As a designer, you can capitalize on this trend by letting clients know that your products help the local and national economy.
This might seem a bit obsessive but as a designer, you can be sure the flooring made in the US will be the highest quality to work with.
8. Fancy Finishes
Matte? Oil? Anything in between? Going with a unique finish to your hardwood flooring is a great way to add a detail that most interior designers would overlook. In addition, oil finishes strengthen the material while also giving an organic feel to the look.
A matte floor gives the home an upscale, warm feel. And smooth finishes will never go out of style.
Trends in Action
2019 is going to be an exciting year for interior design. The hardwood floor trends alone are enough to send an interior designer into a state of euphoria.
Some of these trends are a bit too…trendy, so as an interior designer, you’ll need to be educated in these trends. That way you can make informed suggestions to your clients and steer them away from anything that won’t age well. There’s always the worry of a style looking ridiculous in a decade…(shag carpeting, anyone?)
Are you ready to start checking out some real engineered wood floors? You might wonder what it would cost to install them or want to see what a completed project might look like. We’ve got it covered!