How to choose wooden flooring

Selecting the flooring was by far the trickiest decision of my recent living-room makeover – I knew I wanted wooden boards with a pale, Nordic aesthetic, but that was about it. The array of colour and finish options on the market nowadays is mind-boggling, and I must have spent hours gazing at various samples and agonising over which to choose. After all, flooring has a huge impact on both the look and feel of a space, and it’s very costly to change if you make a mistake!

To help others facing a similar dilemma, I’ve teamed up with Swedish company Kährs, who have an impressive selection of wooden flooring and who came to my rescue with the perfect solution, to share a few tips on what to consider…

Solid versus engineered boards

The first decision to make is whether to opt for solid-wood flooring, where the plank is constructed from a single piece of timber, or engineered flooring, which consists of a thin hardwood veneer bonded onto layers of high-density fibreboard (HDF), plywood or softwood. There are advantages to both: solid wood is timeless and tends to be quieter underfoot, whereas engineered flooring provides excellent stability against expansion and contraction. You therefore need to consider the level of movement in your home, plus whether you’re planning to install underfloor heating (solid wood generally can’t cope with the temperature and moisture fluctuations it causes). It’s also worth bearing in mind that solid wood can be refinished repeatedly, whereas engineered flooring can only be sanded down a few times due to the limited thickness of the veneer.

Colour

Flooring colour is dictated by the wood, with options ranging from pale birch and fir through to ash, oak, beech and even very dark walnut, plus any stain used. You need to think about how dark you want the floor to be, as well as whether you’d prefer to go for warmer undertones or cooler ashen hues. Your choice will depend not only on how you want the finished room to look and feel, but also on the level of natural light – in general, darker floors look cosier but can make a space appear smaller, whereas pale floors make rooms feel airier and more spacious.

For the living room, I opted for Kährs’ ‘Oak Sky’ flooring, which has a semi-transparent white stain that balances out the honeyed tones of the wood. It creates the light, Scandinavian vibe that I love, but it doesn’t look out of place in our Victorian house; it also works brilliantly with the grey walls.

Grain and grade

The next thing to consider is whether you want the floor to have a clean, smooth look, or a more rustic appearance with knots and cracks. The surface of timber boards is graded according to which part of the log is used, with higher grades having a silkier finish and lower ones more texture. The flooring I chose is beautifully smooth with no visible cracks, but the grain and knots show through the stain, creating a contemporary look while also showcasing the natural beauty of the oak.

Finish

Wooden flooring is available with all sorts of different finishes, but they generally fall into two broad categories: oiled and lacquered. Oiled wood tends to have a more natural, matte finish, but it scratches fairly easily and may need sanding down and redoing every few years. Lacquer, on the other hand, is hard-wearing and easy to clean, but it has a shiny appearance that I personally don’t like. Luckily, there is a solution if you want to combine the best of both worlds: Kährs’ new ‘ultra-matte’ lacquered range, which offers all the protection of lacquered boards without any of the sheen. It’s proven ideal for the living room, which is one of the most high-traffic areas of our house, but it looks like untreated timber.

Plank size

The length and width of the boards you choose can have a big impact on the appearance of the finished floor. Longer, wider planks tend to look a little more contemporary, narrower and shorter ones a bit more traditional, but you also need to consider the proportions of the space. Wider planks may overpower a small room, whereas narrow ones could get lost in a large space. We opted for 187 x 2420mm boards, which are a little bigger than normal but don’t look out place in our fairly standard-size room.

Another option is parquet, which is having a bit of a resurgence at the moment. It’s made up of shorter blocks which can be arranged in a herringbone or chevron pattern.

Accessories

Finally, don’t forget to check what accessories you need. These could include mouldings for doorways where different floors join (a T-bar if there’s no change in level, or a stepped one if there is), skirts to go around radiator pipes, and cover strips for the edge of hearths and the like. We removed our skirting boards before installing the floor and put them back on top, but if you don’t want to risk damaging your skirting (or you don’t have it all) then you might also need scotia to cover the expansion gap around the edge of the floor.

If you want to see how different flooring will look in your home, you can upload a photo to Kährs’ ‘floor finder’ and compare different options in situ – fun and very clever!

Kährs kindly gifted the flooring for our living room, but as always all words and opinions are my own.

Images one, six, nine, 12 and 13 by Abi Dare; all other photography via Kährs

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