When refurbishing a property there are various options for flooring. I have to admit I am partial to wooden and tiled floors. Forget carpet or lino they really don’t look half as impressive. In many of the homes we refurbish, when looking to create a modern, stylish, relaxed yet sophisticated feel to a home we tend to use wood for living room and bedroom floors.
Our most recent was project was a gorgeous flat. This now boasts a stunning oak herringbone parquet flooring leading from the hallway to the living room and bedrooms. It’s pretty impressive when you see an expertly laid floor and has been a great talking point.
I thought I would share the journey from start to finish so you can see just how amazing it looks for yourselves and how easy it can be to do in your own home.
Finding A Wooden Floor Installer
The gentleman that fitted this particular floor has fitted wooden floors for us before and does a wonderful job. We found him initially on Gumtree years ago. When choosing who to use, make sure they’ve had and plenty of experience and can provide examples of their work. Please don’t go for whoever charges the least as often this can be a false economy. It can help to use someone that is recommended by someone you know. Failing that, check the Which Trusted Trade website. It’s best to make sure you get it right the first time around.
Choosing the Wood
There are so many places that sell wood. When looking you need to just go with a company that fits with your needs. Look at wood types, cost, delivery options etc. to help you choose which company to use.
Climatising the Wood
When the wood arrives you allow it to climatise for at least a week in the room that it will be laid.
Preparing the Floor
The old carpet and underlay were removed from the bedrooms and the old click engineered oak flooring planks from the living and hallway.
We were careful when removing the oak flooring as it wasn’t exceptionally old meaning we were able to resell this and put the proceeds towards the new flooring. The floors were all vacuumed once the coverings were removed.
Beneath was a screeded concrete floor.
Damaged parts of the concrete floor were repaired with a latex floor leveling compound. Once this had fully dried a 3mm acoustic matting was stuck on top with acoustic flooring adhesive. This was essential as it was a 1st floor property. If it was on the ground floor this stage could have been skipped.
Laying the Floor
Unfinished oak parquet blocks were used.
The blocks were glued to the acoustic matting using flooring adhesive.
The inner parts were laid first.
The outer parts were laid last as the blocks required cutting down to size.
The floor itself looked stunning.
To add that little extra to its appearance we also included a border.
The floor took a while to lay as it was just one person working on it. As more and more of the floor was completed it began to look pretty amazing!!!
Once the blocks were laid, the floor was sanded and hoovered.
Finally, this was sealed using a primer and further 2 coats of hardwearing lacquer.
The floor looked fantastic and was worth the time it took to create this gorgeous parquet flooring that will be enjoyed for many years.
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What type(s) of flooring do you like most within the living room and bedrooms?
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The entire first floor of my house has these floors (with the exception of the kitchen and bathroom). I love the look of it and all the compliments I get on my floors.
These types of floors do look stunning!!!!
That floor looked so good but doing it from scratch is a masterpiece of a job. I was lucky to have wood floors in my house but those you made were even better
These do look amazing. They really are a conversation starter.
Gorgeous! I would love to have a floor like this! Yours looks incredible. We’d have to hire someone to do ours.
It’s amazing how it can improve the look of the home.
I have been house hunting and always feel a bit excited to read in the details ‘parquet flooring’. After reading this and seeing your results, I have realised I could just put one in! Thanks so much, it’s been an eye opener. Brilliant job, BTW, it looks fantastic!
Love the transformation! Your floors look amazing. I would love to have the floors replaced in my home.
It does look so much better since we did this.
Wow this is amazing! I love the look of it and am so impressed, I wouldn’t; know where to start!
Love these sorts of floors. It’s important to get the right help when doing them.
what an amazing transformation
I know. It looks fantastic doesn’t it!!!!
I’ve always loved the classic herringbone design. These parquet floors look fabulous and you did a great job showing how to install.
Thanks Jenn. We did enjoy seeing it go down. It is amazing to see how the floor looks once it’s all done.
I love parquet floor. They remind me of more glamorous times. It is nice to see them in this day and age.
It really is lovely to have them in a home. They really do look great!
This really did turn out well. I love that pattern and I’d be really excited to have a new floor like that.
We were very pleased. It will look wonderful for many years to come.
Omg this is absolutely stunning! I love the color of wood too! It’s so inviting and welcoming ! Great project!
The wood colour is lovely and warm. Ideal to make a home look inviting x
Oh wow this looks absolutely stunning! I love the look of the parquet floor 🙂
It does look good doesn’t it! I love the fact it spans so many rooms.
Wow I love the flooring a lot. It looks great. We have carpets all over our house. May change that to a different type of flooring in future.
I hope you do. Wooden floors look so much nicer.
The floor looks amazing! I prefer hardwood floors over carpet so changing the carpets in the bedrooms are on our to-do list.
Same here. They look so much nicer.
It’s gorgeous! I would love to have a wooden floor like this, but I can only dream!
It doesn’t cost as much as you might think. You need to look out for offers on the wood you want an get a well-priced wooden floor installer.
This is great! We have tiled floor all over the house. I think I would want to change it to carpet.
Both are great but wooden floors work well in the bedroom and living room.
We love hardwoods at our house and tile. Your parquet floor is stunning! Love the design and that you can do it yourself to save money! Thanks for sharing this tip!
The design does look pretty amazing. I would suggest getting someone that has experience to help lay the floor though.
I love parquet flooring, in my first property I owned we had carpet down and never changed it as it was brand new. When we were selling we decided to recarpet and found parquet flooring underneath so we polished it and revarnished and it looked amazing
Oh wow, who’d have thought all that time you had a stunning floor under a carpet in your home. It’s a shame you didn’t find out sooner to enjoy it whilst you were there.
Wow! Your floors look amazing! This is great work!
Thanks Nikka.
Your parquet floor is beautiful! I know you put in so much hard work but it was totally worth it!
I really is stunning. I totally recommend a wooden floor in the home.
These are really beautiful floor. I just bought a house may be in future when I need remodeling i will try to do a parquet floor too.
It is a lovely addition to any home.
Wow, this looks amazing. You did a wonderful job in laying this floor!
It does look really good 🙂
For the living room, I love parquet flooring. I know it takes a lot of time to put everything together but once it is complete it looks perfect.
It can take time although it is faster if you have more than one person working on it. This came out well as our man is very experienced x
I always love parquet because it can be so warm; perfect for the cold months. Anyway, I tend to prefer tiles more,…because of their beauty and ease in cleaning.
I have both wooden and tiled floors. I will say both are equally easy to clean.
I always learn something new when I read your blog. I have never really thought about how much efforts goes into creating floors. I guess we are lucky we had people around us taking care of it. The shine on the floor is so amazing…..Love it. Thank you for sharing this.
It does look impressive doesn’t it. We pulled up the previous floor as it was worn out in parts and couldn’t be sanded down.
I like this type of wooden floor. I had been waiting to have a house with this floor. I won’t be able to do it alone but I hope to find people to do this.
Ask friends and family and see if they know anyone otherwise local sites can work well. Always check their previous work first though.
Wow, that looks stunning! Our last house had a parquet floor, but it was too damaged to repair unfortunately
That’s such a shame. Sometimes a new floor is just what you need.
Looks so beautiful. I always wonder what type of floor would suitable for my house, You gave me a lots of ideas.
It does look great doesn’t it. Wooden floors can really add character to a home.
This flooring turned out so amazing. I would love to be able to tackle a project like this!
It looks even better when you see it in person. The pictures don’t do it justice 🙂
Looks beautiful I love wooden flooring looks much nicer than carpet
It really does. I love the look of a wooden floor in the home.
It does look stunning. My husband has laid oak flooring in all our rooms apart from the bathrooms and kitchen. Even though it has been treated, I’m very careful how I clean it. I use a steam mop on the lowest of settings and only do it once every couple of weeks.
Thanks Debbie. I don’t blame you wanting to look after it carefully. They do look wonderful although they do tend to be quite hard wearing which is good.
Wow ! That floor looks amazing . I could never do that as my job, I just wouldn’t have the patience. Such a neat and tidy job too !
We had an expert in. He’s been working for himself laying floors for years. He did a wonderful job.
Looks amazing. We had a parquet floor when we moved in our present house but it was in too bad a condition to be restored unfortunately.
It looks great! a lot of hard work to achieve though!
It’s not actually that bad. If you do one room at a time you can control the mess and chaos.
wow thats an incredible transformation. i love how elegant it looks. i think i would consider this for my house!
It does look great doesn’t it! I’m so pleased we did it.
What a lovely job the floor looks amazing
Thanks Magsd. I’m very pleased with the outcome.
Fortunately my husband (who unfortunately passed away unexpectedly last year) was a joiner. Our 2nd son is too, so I have a man around for these type of jobs
I’m so sorry to hear that Carol. It helps when a family member can do these sorts of things.
This is a great help as we have just moved house and this is definitely something to consider
Your home will look amazing with a parquet floor 🙂
What a great transformation! Looks lovely, well done you ✨
Thanks Lorna. It sure is 🙂
What a wonderful transformation, I love the look and pattern of that wood flooring. My boyfriend is a carpenter and I just might suggest this for when we have our own house.
It’s something you will enjoy for years. Gorgeous floors really do add to the look of a home x
My parents have a parquet floor and it looks amazing. Always been tempted to have one in our house
It really adds to the look of a home. They are really lovely, long-lasting and far more hygienic than carpets.
These are definitely tips that will help anyone to create the perfect parquet floor! The result is amazing! I’ve never thought about a parquet floor as an option for my house, but maybe I should!
It is stunning when done properly. Make sure you thoroughly research before getting it done.
My house was built in 1850 and we are lucky enough to have original tiles in the entrance hall and oak parquet in the living room and dining room. Some of it has become scuffed over the years, so it probably needs refinishing but we will leave it a couple of years till we have done more urgent things with the house.
looks like hard work, but looks stunning
Glad we didn’t do it ourselves. The man that did it was very experienced.
This floor is beautiful. I don’t know that I would have the ability and patience to have that type of job. I am glad some people do!
He did do an amazing job. It really does make our home look so much nicer.
Oh wow! It looks beautiful – we really need to replace so much of the flooring in our house when we buy it and I feel quite daunted by it! Thanks for detailing exactly how this process works for parquet flooring, the effect is gorgeous.
It does look amazing once laid. Why not try doing the same. It will look great for many years to come.
Looks great I love parquet flooring it always looks smart and neat
It sure does. I’m so pleased we did it.
At the moment we have carpets but are considering wood. It’s absolutely gorgeous and certainly worth the mess/chaos.
Ha, yes it does result in some mess but it’s worth it!!
This looks absolutely beautiful – makes such a dfference to a room. Glad you were abloe to find someone so skilled too
Me too, what a difference it has made.
I have oiled engineered wood flooring that my Fiance put down for me and it looks great too. Good job!
I bet it does. It makes a big difference to the look of a room.