Regardless of whether you’re doing a general renovation of your living space, or are in the process of moving into a newly-built home, deciding on what kind of flooring you should get for your home is one of the key decisions you’re going to make. After all, they’re going to accompany you for the years to come, or at least they should if their quality is high enough.
If you want to install wooden flooring, there are quite a few options you can choose. The two patterns that are by far the most popular are Chevron and Herringbone. Initially, it may be quite difficult to tell the difference between these two, but after a while spent picking floors, the distinctions will become as clear as day. You might not even have to spend that much time choosing, as we’ll go over them in this article taking a deep dive into the world of Chevron flooring.
Wooden Floors: A Good Idea For Your Home?
Before getting into the intricacies of Chevron floors, it’s important to get one thing out of the way: not every house, apartment, or room will benefit from having wooden flooring.
Just like you wouldn’t install wooden floors in a bathroom, you should steer away from placing planks in your kitchen. Some may disagree with that statement, but the truth is that wooden flooring stains very easily, and installing true hardwood floors in kitchen environments would be doing a disservice to the craftsmanship that goes into creating them.
Another example of a situation where a real, wooden floor might be a mistake is a household with small children. Although adorable, they tend to be clumsy and spill all sorts of substances onto the floors, which can stain the wood if you don’t act fast. If you still want to get a feeling of wooden floors without using 100% wooden planks, you should opt for the Easi-Plank hybrid flooring. It’s every bit as stylish and durable as real wood, but it does not run the risk of getting severely damaged in case something spills on top of it.
Of course, it goes without saying that parquetry flooring isn’t the best idea for rooms where the furniture will be moved around a lot, or where heavy-duty equipment operates on a regular basis, as it increases the risk of scratches and other kinds of damage to the parquetry.
Outside of the instances mentioned above, there is really no reason why you should not give those beautiful Chevron timber floors a spin in your brand new (or newly renovated) home!
What Are the Chevron Floor Patterns?
Many people are confused about what the Chevron patterns actually look like. It is not an uncommon mistake for people to incorrectly brand the Herringbone pattern as Chevron and vice versa. They’re easy to confuse, but those familiar with the history of parquetry flooring will know that the Chevron pattern has historically been considered to be more elegant than the Herringbone.
Some of the earliest accounts of the distinct Chevron zig-zag pattern are from the late 17th century and they pertain to the floor installed in the Queen’s Guard Room at the famed Palace of Versailles in France. It is generally considered to be the origin of this pattern’s increase in popularity, especially among the French royalty, although the Chevron itself reaches even further back — to 14th-century embroidery stitches.
Chevron vs. Herringbone Flooring: What’s the Difference?
Although they’re minuscule to the untrained eye, the differences between the Chevron and Herringbone floor patterns are actually quite apparent. Both of them use similar zig-zag patterns, but while Herringbone does so by laying rectangular blocks on top of each other in a rather staggered manner, in Chevron flooring, the boards are laid in a distinct “V” shape, using blocks that are cut at an angle, doing away with the “blockiness” that Herringbone floors are known for.
Thanks to that sharpness in the “V” shape, Chevron floors are great for making a space seem larger than it actually is. This is why it makes a lot of sense to install these kinds of floors in smaller rooms or apartments, in order to get the most out of their limited square footage.
The picture above should tell you everything you need to know about the differences between Chevron and Herringbone floors. Due to the alignment of the boards, Chevron floors might actually be easier to maintain than their Herringbone counterparts in the long run, which is something you should also keep in mind.
The Bottom Line
Chevron timber flooring is a great choice for dining rooms and living spaces due to its unique ability to artificially enlarge any room it’s a part of. While the installation may be tricky, a qualified professional should have no problem handling it in the right way. One of the most important things is to get your floors from a trustworthy supplier of high-quality floors with years of experience in the industry, such as ID Flooring. Whatever the style of flooring you’ll end up choosing, remember to never compromise on their quality. Good luck!