To parque or not to parque?

[AngryFeet]

We are in the process of refurbishing our 1940's bungalow at the moment. We are about to start the hallway which is a tricky room as it has no natural light and is fairly narrow so our plan was to white wood panel the bottom half, paint the top a pale colour then have a dark real wood floor.

But we have just discovered there is a fairly dark parque in the hall and lounge. We could easily sand and varnish it for much cheaper than putting new flooring down but does it look a bit old fashioned and church-hally?

I am not sure how modern it is going to look as everything we have done so far is pretty modern looking. We are just talking about keeping it in the hall as I hate wooden floors in lounges.

[lalalonglegs]

I love wooden floors in lounges and you can always soften the effect with a beautiful rug. I'd definitely resand the original floor - I am very .

[AndWhenYouGetThere]

I love parque - I'd say keep it.

[AngelsWithSilverWings]

I still have the original parquet floor in the hall of my 1930's house. When we moved in it was quite badly damaged and looked scruffy so we planned on having it ripped up and replaced with a new oak floor.

In the end so many people visiting said how lucky we were to still have the original flooring that we decided to have it professionally renovated. It cost the same as having a new oak floor fitted but looks amazing and I'm really pleased we didn't get rid of it.

If you do decide to have it replaced don't let anyone charge you for removal. We were quoted £200 for removal and disposal of the parquet tiles and then discovered that they are actually quite valuable as there is a good market for them. One person offered to remove them for free as he could sell them on.

[Jaffacakesallround]

keep it- it will be a great selling point in the future as an original feature and much better than laminate.

[snowgirl1]

I love parque and would keep it. We discovered parque under the laminate floor of our house and were delighted.

[InsertUsernameHere]

Keep it!! (About to fit one in our downstairs). The colour will lighten when you have it refurbished I reckon. If some s

[InsertUsernameHere]

reason you do decide to rip it up - sell it on eBay as they are currently v desirable or so i tell myself to justify the cost of laying one

[AngryFeet]

Oh I don't want it lighter I want it nice and dark. I'm sure we can stain it back to the dark colour if sanding lightens it.

[MILdesperandum]

What pattern parquet is it? We have discovered a herringbone parquet floor under the carpet in our lounge. I love it but I'm with you really, prefer carpet in lounges.

[eatyourveg]

we have herringbone parquet in the dining room - its too dark for my liking and I prefer the fake laminate in the sitting room. No intention of taking it up or carpetting over though as it does its job

[lalalonglegs]

Could it be that the finish rather than the wood is too dark? Maybe sanding it back and using a wax/clear varnish would help. [Envy] again...

[peggyundercrackers]

we had parque flooring when we lifted some temporary floor coverings, it was in the living room, bedroom and dining room. we lifted it and binned it as we thought it looked old fashioned, it wasnt the herringbone pattern though - we would have kept that, its was the small square tiles that i remember from school.

[eatyourveg]

ours is just a light oak colour but as peggy says it looks old fashioned, the dining room is full of bookcases though so it looks rather like a libary cum study so it suits the setting really but I prefer the lighter fake beech which looks more modern

[AngryFeet]

It is a herringbone pattern

[ceres]

parquet is classic, not old fashioned.

new and old can work really well together - the contrast between original features/antiques and contemporary décor can be really striking.

[Thumbwitch]

I love parquet, and I would say it is in sympathy with the age of the house, rather than "old fashioned". It makes a lovely feature if it's brought back to good condition and you can always put a rug on it if you want to diminish the herringbone-ness of it.