Wooden Flooring Trends 2016 to 2017

Are you bored of Oak Oak and more Oak Flooring ? Well don’t be. This particular species of timber flooring has been the floor of choice for the vast majority of British consumers for the best part of 15 years or at very least since the revival of hardwood floor coverings in the British home. In my opinion Oak still hosts the most favourable characteristics of any wooden floor product currently available on the market. Primarily down to its beautiful grain structure and diversity.

So what can we expect for 2017.

As an individual who has been a Flooring Retailer and an active member of the Wooden Flooring industry for the past 20 years i have come across a number of product changes & differing consumer trends within that time. So

What happened in 2016

Each year the manufacturers discard outdated product lines that have either fallen off a cliff in Sales or have not stood up to the test of time. Last year like many previous years before this was again the case.

Wooden Flooring Trends in 2016

 

It is apparent that the consumer is striving towards a longer wider flooring board with the traditional three strip flooring board being phased out due to its fall in popularity.

A number of the more obscure Wood flooring species which were once very popular such as Beech & Maple have been removed from the ranges. One of the reasons for this is the lack of furniture and door options that are available to compliment your wooden flooring. After all who wants a beech floor with an Oak door. ( Car Crash interior design ).

Lacquered finishes on floors are becoming less popular with a number of manufacturers now dropping the lacquered Hardwood Flooring designs from their ranges. These finishes are being replaced by Oiled or Brushed and UV Oiled.

Engineered Wooden flooring continues to gain popularity over the more traditional solid wooden flooring products that are available. This is due to Improved stability and ease of fitting.

We have noticed an upsurge in sales of the more rustic and vintage designed wooden floors. The heavily pitted and hand scraped floors are being installed equally in contemporary and Traditional houses. This is the most significant change in consumer trends in 2016. This change took us by surprise as up until 2016 sales of Distressed and Vintage floors were relatively flat.

Grey Wooden floors have hit the ground running in 2016. When our main supplier launched their new flooring ranges in 2016 we were aghast that so many of the floors being offered were Grey or variations of Grey. However we have eaten our words as Grey has become the new in fashion Colour. Will this trend continue or is it just a passing phase.

What to expect in 2017

If I were to take an educated guess I would say that Wide Long heavily distressed wooden flooring boards will continue to increase in popularity. As the manufacturers cotton on to this trend I think that we will see barriers and designs being pushed to the limit in attempt to captivate the market. However beware as Size costs more and with the huge amount of turmoil that is current within the uk short term prices are likely to be on the rise.