Hardwood floors remain one of the most popular flooring types in Bay Area homes, commonly found in older, antique homes, but also as a popular choice for new homes and home remodels as well. Hardwood floors are timelessly elegant, easy to clean and maintain, and a sustainable flooring choice; all factors which have helped to maintain the popularity of hardwood floors over the years. Here we present some of the many findings of the 2016 Macwoods Hardwood Flooring Customer Preference Survey, revealing some of the trends and preferences among homeowners in regards to hardwood floors this year.
Choosing Hardwood Floor Styles
When it comes to including hardwood floors in your remodel or room additions, it’s necessary to choose a style and design of the hardwood flooring to suit your needs and tastes. The customer preference survey indicated that the top 4 styles used by designers were Wide Planks, Modern, Darker Stained and Engineered, in order of preference.
When it comes to changing flooring in a remodel or renovation, the most popular flooring is Engineered, closely followed by Solid, with Laminate and ‘Other’ making up a very small percentage of preference.
With solid hardwood floors and engineered wood floors being the most popular choices for bedroom remodeling and living room remodeling, it’s important for customers to discuss the benefits and differences of these two types of wood flooring with their contractor.
What Qualities Are Important?
When it comes to the qualities that homeowners value in their flooring, durability tops the list, although it is closely followed by aesthetics and cost. It’s hardly a surprise that homeowners value durability most highly in their flooring choice – nobody wants to spend money on flooring only to have it wear out or diminish in appearance rapidly. You want your floors to last against the rigors of daily life as well as long term wear and tear. Solid wood floors have a slight edge over engineered floors in terms of durability, although engineered floors are better suited to rooms where there’s a possibility of exposure to moisture.
However, making the right choice if you’re changing flooring in a remodel is always a balance between a variety of factors that are important to you, including how much use the flooring will get, whether you have pets, how much you want to invest, the appearance of a flooring type, the resale value, and durability.
Trend Predictions for 2016 and Beyond
In interviews with designers about some of the trends they were identifying in customer preferences, one of the most frequently mentioned trends was for hardwood floors was light and grey-toned stains. This trend gives a cool, clean, modern look that is much in favor these days for home remodels.
A trend towards oak, particularly French Oak, and wood styles with character grade is also on the rise as homeowners prefer natural and authentic hardwood appearance.
Incorporating Universal Design
Universal design is about enhancing accessibility, function and performance within a space, regardless of a person’s age or physical condition. A great tip for incorporating universal design into the flooring of your home, is to establish defined differences in color and/or texture of your hardwood flooring to indicate level changes in a home. Hardwood floors not only enhance mobility, but add a significant amount of value.
If you’re thinking of adding hardwood floors to your home addition or remodel, or updating and refinishing your current hardwood floors, it’s a great opportunity to consider the current popular trends, styles and finishes of hardwood floors today in order to choose a modern, attractive and functional wood flooring solution for your home.
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