What do all think about herringbone pattern engineered oak floor

[goingtobefree]

We live in a 1980s house and I need the entire ground floor flooring changed, really horrible carpets
Don't like walnut coloured flooring, so oak for me.
Would it look odd if we do herringbone pattern for living room, large hallway, dining room and study?
Will it look busy, it is a lot of money, or shall I just be a coward and go for a safe option of wooden plank.

I think it will look beautiful

There was a thread here not long ago about an older house with this already in- and the consensus was to leave it.

I'd say you have to think about whether it 'fits' with the overall style of the home. 1980s is quite modern still so what about your windows and furnishings for example? Personally, I'd like it in an older property but not sure if it would fit in a 1980s house.

herringbone was popular for those who could afford it until I suppose the 1960's. People who were around then, or for the next 20 years or so, will think it looks old fashioned.

If you are young enough never to have seen it in a dowdy, run down school hall or old person's house, it will not have the same connotations for you.

People feel the same about old furniture, jewellery, and decorating styles.

gorgeous. v. jealous.

If the colour and pattern of the wood is quite consistent it can look stunning. It can however look too 'busy' if there is too much variation in colour/pattern in the wood.

My auntie has a wood floor in her living room. After one of the neighbours ruined it by wearing stiletto heels to a party they had she covered it with carpet.

When I was a child I remember her spending quite a lot of time polishing it with her polishing machine.

What I am trying to say in a roundabout way is that wood floors look beautiful, but they need looking after properly.

I'm going to buck the trend here, It reminds me of school halls and churches. Ok for big spaces but busy and irritating in houses.
I would much prefer floorboards but it's your house so do what you want!

No floorboards, it has concrete under the carpet.
I was hoping that I will lift the carpet and there will be beautiful wooden floor underneath

It will be very lovely. Very cool and up to date. Elle Deco is full of it.

you can lay "real wood flooring" on top of concrete. It will raise the floor level, typically by about 15mm so you will need at least your doors trimmed. For a superlative job, move the skirtings up (or fit new) as well.

I love it, go for it. I just wish I was brave enough to have it, as I feel the same as you, not sure if the 'safe' option of straight boards is better.

Very nice. We have the 1960s little boxes with our parquet. Not so good.

Thanks Pigletjohn, we have done the heating at home and the pipe goes on top of the skirting board as we fitted a new boiler upstairs. Does it have to be removed completely now?

you haven't got to take off the old skirting board, but if you do, you can run the flooring right up to the wall and hide the edge under new or refixed skirting. Otherwise you will tack a bit of quadrant to the skirting to hide the edge, which is not as neat.

If your old skirting is relatively old, you can fit a slightly smaller board in place of the old. It is best not to conceal the pipes as someone will bang a nail into them.

A specialist floor fitter or joiner may have a special saw which can be used to trim the skirting in place, but it would take a very long time to do the whole room.

I did the quadrant solution with laminate flooring - it looked horrible.

When I did the engineered wood floor I replaced the skirting. It came off quite easily and the walls were not damaged. The floor/skirting finish is so much cleaner that way.

If you do replace the skirting my advice is to give the new skirting boards a few coats of undercoat before you fix them to the wall. It saves a lot of bother later.