Help settle out difference of opinion on parquet floor

[JenaWren]

Can you help settle a difference of opinion on this parquet floor?

We recently moved into a new house and then found we had a few unexpected carpet moth housemates.

We’ve just taken up the carpets and found this. The floor is in reasonably good nick - I suspect it might be original 1970s based the age of some of the carpet.

It’s an ugly dark colour but I think it could be repaired and restored to something lovely.

DH says it reminds him of his parents house and he can’t get past the old fashioned vibes.

Please help settle the argument - do we restore or do something else (carpet or new hardwood floor).

We have similar on the ground floor of our house. It cost us £1800 to get three rooms plus the hall sanded and revarnished. It seems pricey at first but when you consider how much it would have cost to carpet the rooms it’s pretty cheap really! Plus it will last so much longer than carpet. We love it and it attracts so many compliments.

Love it

Beautiful and original. If you don't like it then carpet it but it would be criminal to destroy it.

I don’t care about trends and think it’s absolutely beautiful, I would love to have found that when I pulled up manky old carpets in my fixer upper!

Absolutely gorgeous- very jealous ❤️

I love it!! So what if old fashioned?! Such good quality too!

I would love to find this lurking under a carpet!

I love it, I have a similar but lighter parquet in my lounge.

Defo restore. We have herringbone parquet which we discovered under a carpet! Get a floor sander.

You can hire a floor sander and diy for much cheaper.

I think it may be iroko.

https://oxfordcityflooring.co.uk/case-study/tawn-plank-wooden-flooring-project2-3/

We just uncovered the same floor. Polished up and oiled it turned a lovely redish colour. It was more expensive than we were planning on spending on a floor though.

It is a bit old fashioned, call it a classic!
and I think that’s the charm of it. I would die to have this in my house. Paired well with modern furniture, it could really bring the house together and give it an unique touch.
You can really make it work with the right home decor!

Definitely keep! I would try and sand a lighter colour, and add rugs.

Way too dark for me but that's personal taste.

I agree with some of the previous posts. Strip it and sand it down it will look fabulous

It’s a very classic style. Much better to have a well laid solid wood floor then replace it with cheap engineered wood.

This. An act of vandalism to cover it up. You are very lucky. If you have it stripped, sanded and a light wax and polish it will look amazing.

My DH has just grumbled why do we just find 5 layers of old wallpaper in each bedroom in the house we just bought, yet you can find a lovely old floor and you're not even very appreciative of it. 🤷

See if you can put what type of wood it is, chances are it'll come up lighter with some sanding.

We found original parquet when we moved in which we had restored. We did change to tiles and carpets following an extension though - personal preference, but it would have required resanding every few years to keep it looking reasonable, and it was too much upheaval with two kids in the house (it was in the hallway as well so wouldn't have been possible to move round the house while it was being done)

I love parquet flooring! I’d restore it and get some lovely rugs.
if you decide you don’t like it, please don’t rip it up. Cover it up and leave it for the next people who own your house.

Yup, agree with this. When we moved into our current home 32 years ago (so we weren't old!) we lifted our carpets downstairs to discover we have herringbone parquet floors in the living room, hall and dining room and we were thrilled as it was in perfect condition. Although we laid a carpet in the living room (I just don't like hard floors in living rooms as it doesn't feel cosy enough) we placed an area rug beneath the dining table and it looks fab in there and in the hall.
@JenaWren Although yours isn't my favourite pattern for parquet, ask yourself this OP, why would you replace a hardwood floor with a ... hardwood floor? 🤔 Everything goes in and out of fashion - imagine in a few years' time when you may be wondering why you went to the trouble and expense of replacing a perfectly good floor. It's certainly of its time, but is a mark of a quality build. I have friends with houses built at the same time as mine (late 70's) with concrete floors and plasterboard walls (parquet and solid walls in mine). Restore and celebrate it OP! 😃

Gorgeous and classic

Restore

We have this floor. Mainly because it’s too expensive to replace with a new wooden floor, and I don’t want carpets (which we also can’t really afford). I like it most of the time but it really restricts what colour we can put on the walls.