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How About Herringbone?
The short pieces of upcycled shipping pallets are perfect for creating a herringbone-patterned floor that brings warmth and elegance to a home. For a uniform look, stain the floor one color, or choose to stain each piece individually, maintaining a variety of wood shades for visual interest underfoot.
Simply "Marbelous"
Bibliophiles may recognize this marbling technique traditionally used in the bookbinding trade. Applied to a traditional Scandinavian light wood floor, this treatment makes a colorful statement and highlights the growth ring patterns in the natural wood, resulting in a floor that is truly out of the ordinary.
Drama Down Below
More than just a floor, this mosaic from the Italian firm Parchettificio is a work of art that combines steel and stone inserts with hardwood to dramatic effect. Woods used include antique oak, olive, and recycled teak.
A Real Home Gym
Ever wonder what happened to the flooring in your high school gym? Okay, maybe not. But if the question has piqued your interest, you’ll be happy to know that reclaimed hardwood sports floors, with all their lines intact, can become one-of-a-kind flooring for sports enthusiasts. Arrange the boards so the lines are mismatched to create an unusual but mesmerizing effect.
Floored by a Puzzle
If you love wood flooring but find hardwood strips or traditional parquet a little boring, this fanciful approach may be just the thing. Two interlocking wooden blocks form a repeating bird pattern in a warm oak finish, resulting in a wall-to-wall patterned floor that is as beautiful as it is unexpected.
3-D Parquet
The placement of light and dark stained short wood pieces creates the illusion of three-dimensional building blocks in this restored parquet floor in a private home in Froxfield, Hampshire, England. Perfect for a fun family area or a nursery, this pattern could suit a variety of rooms and home styles.
Drop-Down Ceiling
When is a floor not a floor? When it’s a ceiling. For an apartment in Hamamatsu, Japan, the Japanese architecture and design firm 403architecture used wood reclaimed from the ceiling to make this handcrafted floor, a patchwork of square and rectangular timber pieces. The result? An incredible recycled wood floor known as the Floor of Atsumi.
Make a Medallion
A customized medallion in a hardwood floor is a distinctive decorative feature that sets an elevated tone for a room, particularly a study or library. The combination and placement of wood elements lend a three-dimensional effect to this highly individual centerpiece.
Not Cobblestones, Cobblewood!
In this unusual wood flooring pattern, oak and walnut wood blocks are made to look like cobblestones. Wood pieces of different sizes and species, and with different stains, can be placed in circular, oval, or rectangular patterns based on the shape of the wood blocks. This is yet another option for a genuinely unique wooden floor.
Barrels Beneath Your Feet
Whiskey lovers will fall for this reclaimed whiskey barrel flooring from McKay Flooring in Glasgow, Scotland. Not only do the mismatched recycled barrel boards still carry their distillery markings, they may also retain pleasant fragrances like vanilla and oak from their previous employment.
For More…
If you are interested in more about hardwood flooring, consider: