Herringbone has had it's day. Straight planks are back. Discuss.

[HopscotchBanana]

Pretty much that really.

Now doing a renovation, and going to do one of 2 things on ground floor:

Tile (flagstone look, porcelain from Quorn Stone) throughout except living room, neutral carpet.

Wooden floor throughout, including living room, but tile cloakroom and utility with Quorn Stone as above.

I think I prefer the tiles, but DH and eldest DS won't wear slippers and hate the coldness. I can't be arsed with underfloor heating the whole thing.

So, this leaves us the wood. Engineered we think is looking like the smarter option. I really like the herringbone, but will it date? I know it's been around years, but still. Is it just the greige lvt stuff that is "of a look" (you can tell it's not wood, I've been looking in showrooms at all sorts for months now) that is looking dated, or would you avoid herringbone entirely as a fad and stick with straight planks?

Disclaimer: there won't be a navy kitchen with gold handles, nor faux panelling around every room, so it won't be over styled.

No I don’t think so, I think it looks nice. It’s what you do with the rest of the decor and styling that dates things I think.

I think herringbone will suit my rooms better so that's what I'm planning, regardless of trends.

By herringbone do you mean parquet flooring?

I love our oak herringbone floor, we had it laid about 7/8 years and I still love opening the front door and seeing it. It’s in our hallway and fhe front room.
we do have underfloor heating though, I hate cold floors no matter what the actual floor covering is.
It’s very plain and simple, not ‘trendy’, quite classic imo. Others may disagree but we aren’t a ‘trendy’ household, we went with what we liked at the time and luckily I still love what we chose.

Makes me feel like I'm in a classroom.

We’re in the middle of knocking down a wall to extend the kitchen and add a new hall, and will be carrying through herringbone wood floor from elsewhere downstairs. It’s not wildly exciting, but it’s nice. Yes, I think it’s any iteration of greige that is so awful.

Just found a photo of mid renovation, this is part of what is now the front ‘living’ room. It needs a sanding and revarnish now but I think we’ll leave it as it now has character!
the door didn’t stay in the fireplace, I can’t explain why that was there 😂

The parquet flooring in our house has been down for around 100 years. We have had it polished a few times and it still looks amazing. It works with modern and period interiors. I don’t think it will date :)

I'm without doubt, older than you. And without doubt again, it WILL date. Everything does. Same with hairstyles (I work in the industry), who would have thought a mullet and moustache would make a comeback?! it's taken the moustache about 50 years, but here it is; I'd say flooring dates faster than a 'tache! If you like it though, go for it. Can always be carpeted over (or whatever) at a later date.

Everything dates. The popular colours of wood floors will date. But unless you live in a house property where parquet flooring would be a period feature then I would stay away.

Everyone has a preference but I think if you are going for wood flooring, herringbone is just like tiling, it never feels like a nice robust wooden floor but just a wannabe wood cutoff. It always just looks like Lino to me, or cheap. I realise some herringbone/parquet floors are very expensive but I prefer a material to keep its character and forcing wood into this style always jars.

This is very nice.

May I ask the brand/finish please?

Straight planks thru the entire house. Classic and consistent You won’t be dated or disappointed in the future

I don't like it personally and would never have it but it is a classic look. I'd 100% choose wood over tiles.

I’ve always detested herringbone/parquet flooring. Straight planks for me, throughout the ground floor.

If it’s real wood, I’d say herringbone is a classic - as is straight lay planks. I’ve gone for straight lay due to cost but if you have the money, why not go for it.

Argh I don’t really have a clue tbh! It was engineered oak which I think was what was recommended because it has underfloor heating and needed to be able to withstand the direct heat so it didn’t warp/swell/shrink.
But no further clue, sorry.

The porcelain tiles, check what they are like when wet. Super-slippery by the kitchen sink is not erm, super.

Agree @RedNine - we have porcelain tiles on our kitchen floor and utility and I’ll never have them again despite the fact that I love them 😂 they are so slippy and therefore quite unhelpful in rooms where there will be water spillage from time to time! Plus the colour we went for shows footprints on them immediately after steam cleaning!

I always liked the look of bamboo flooring. Our neighbour had it next door when I was a child and I thought it looked very exotic. I like the warm golden colour too. I saw it came back into B&Q about 10-15 years ago but haven't seen it since...

I think it depends on the space, herringbone can look quite busy and doesn’t work as well if you have a lot of other stuff going on. We’ve gone straight plank in wider planks than our previous flooring and it feels much more spacious.

I agree, I think herringbone looks very busy with that zigzag pattern running up and down the floor. I personally prefer straight planks for sure.

I do think wood floors look better when they are worn and lived in.

Am I the only person who looks at herringbone flooring and within a second or two sees what looks like what I can only describe as a load of toblerones?

No toblerones but yes to it being overly busy for my taste. But I like fairly plain decor.

I think the size and colour of the planks are what makes the difference between fairly timeless and very of a specific time: larger herringbone in light grey-er tones feel very current, closer to classic parquet feels timeless.