How to Choose Traditional Style Wood Flooring

When choosing flooring, it’s important to think about the overall style you want to create in your room. There are design styles for every preference, but here we're taking a look at how the colors and textures of hardwood can help you ground your space in a traditional style.

 

What Do We Mean By Traditional Style?

The traditional style combines several elements. Think symmetry, layers of patterns, deep and saturated colors, and furniture that showcases collections or home goods. When applied well, these aspects work together to create a feeling rooted in tradition but not stuck in the past. It’s a timeless look that radiates comfort and familiarity and helps create a welcoming place to relax with family and friends.

 

The traditional style isn’t about being formal and restrictive but embracing the best parts of yesteryear. Traditional means warmth and simple elegance; those are the characteristics you’ll want in your flooring. The color, texture, construction, and width of the flooring boards will all have a part to play in this.

 

Colors and Shades

Traditional wood floor colors tend toward medium, natural-toned browns that help create a sense of warmth. More contemporary flooring is usually in grays or whites. Hardwoods like hickory, maple, and natural white oak are popular choices, as they blend well with most interior design styles and naturally come in medium shades.

 

You can also use lighter or darker shades of wood to create effects like brightening a room or enhancing its drama. Darker flooring shades add richness and depth to a room and look great whether they're providing a complement or contrast to the rest of your décor. Lighter flooring shades can help make a room feel bigger, especially if there's lots of natural light for them to reflect. If the rest of your décor is your focal point, then you might want to choose a lighter shade to act as a more neutral backdrop.

 

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Design

Traditional flooring styles include the customary long boards with a width of 2.25 to 3 inches, but you can also use patterned flooring that comes in specific sizes. Herringbone is one of the most common designs, but you might opt to arrange these pieces into chevron, basket weave, hexagonal, or diamond patterns.

 

Gloss

A floor’s gloss or sheen level can leave a lasting impression. At LL Flooring, we offer a selection of finishes from matte to medium gloss. Matte finishes absorb light, adding warmth to flooring and highlighting the wood’s grain and color. Glossier finishes bounce back natural light, brightening the room and giving a lustrous effect.

 

Texture

The texture of your flooring plays a surprisingly important role in the impression it creates. With smooth flooring, you can help lend a classic, refined feel to a room. Subtly textured flooring brings the wood’s grain to the foreground, highlighting the natural beauty of each board. Distressed floors take this even further, with pronounced graining and unique features like hand-scraping and saw marks giving the floor a depth of character and sense of history that's an ideal basis for a traditional room.

 

Types of Traditional Style Flooring

Whichever type of flooring you choose, we carry such a wide variety of styles that you'll be sure to find one to complement your traditional aesthetic.

 

Solid Hardwood

Traditional solid hardwood flooring is a staple of the industry. Hardwood flooring for traditional style is also a standard because it wears well and comes in various tones and shades. Natural solid hardwood can also gain a patina as it ages, building its own unique character over the years.

 

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood combines a real hardwood layer, with all the natural beauty and properties of wood, with a sturdy core construction designed with strength and stability in mind. This versatile flooring stands up well to seasonal changes and comes in various colors and grain patterns. For areas with more moisture, like basements, you may want to consider our AquaSeal collection.

 

How We Can Help

At LL Flooring, our wide selection of flooring will help you capture the right feel for your traditional style. If you need a little help seeing traditional flooring styles, you can use our Floor Visualizer or our Inspirations section to get an idea of what colors and looks will work best for you. If you’ve already found your perfect flooring, get ready with the right installation materials, or use our professional independent contractors’ installation section for quality service. You can also order free samples from the LLF website to see which flooring might look best in your space.