New spin on traditional hardwood flooring

I remember when I bought my first house way back in the late '80s. The first thing that I did was take up all the carpets from this '70s bungalow to expose the two-and-a-half inch oak plank floors hidden beneath the hideous shag carpet. With the help of my dad, I began to re-finish and restore the floor. We sanded, stained, and waxed until I thought my body was broken, but it was well worth the back-breaking elbow grease. I loved my floors and my first home.

Today, I am still all about hardwood at home; even in my ultra contemporary house with primarily concrete floors I still have extra wide dark oiled hardwood running down the bedroom hallway into the bedrooms and closets. My clients who enjoy less contemporary spaces also want the ease of life and natural texture and beauty of hardwood in their homes. I generally opt for hand scraped and oiled finishes to hide and reduce wear-and-tear.

Bottom line, we love our hardwood but I must admit I have been looking for new angles, new woods, and finishes, just something. I'm in need of a new direction to come from the flooring industry, something to allow us to use a little more of our creative energies underfoot. Today I discovered just what I was looking for! I've just been privy to the latest in hardwoods and I think you will agree, these new hardwood options are exciting.

Available in a multitude of fabulous stains the latest in hardwood flooring is all about geometric patterns and design. Circles, squares, brick patterns, Greek keys, woven, four pointed stars, and simple shapes are all available in traditional glue down or engineered. These floors are outstanding and my designer senses are tingling with excitement. Patterned floors may be used in conjunction with straight plank hardwood, perhaps as an inlay in the sitting area of the living room or the foyer. Used alone they bring a lot of style and design to a dining room or home office. Personally, I may use the circle pattern, stained rich ebony in my home library. I love it when we find products and materials that allow our creative juices to flow, to really rock a house.