Durrington, Wiltshire

Deco Parquet Smoked Oak herringbone wood floors add a warm welcome to this Durrington home

ZB201 Smoked Oak

The lovely four bed detached cottage is ideally located on Durrington High Street, perfect for family life and close to everything the village offered. They were extremely happy in the house but had lived with some of the tired décor for almost ten years. Chris explains, We always had plans to upgrade the home to a higher standard and to our own taste, but with two very small children it took a back seat. We decided to wait until they were a bit older and would be a bit more careful around new flooring and furniture.

“Time flies with two young kids’ so we really did drag out that waiting time until the old carpets were pretty much threadbare and desperate to be done, so at the start of the year we decided the first priority was to upgrade our floors.”

The couple worked with a local carpet specialist selecting new carpet for the stairs, bedrooms and some of the family living spaces. When it came to the entrance hallway they were keen to do something a little bit more special. The carpets were great and we loved the high quality finish we went for to ensure they would stand the test of time, but for the entrance hallway we felt it should have something a bit special. The home is Georgian in build style and we liked the idea of reflecting this in the home’s main welcome area with floors that were sympathetic to this build style. Quality was paramount here too, and while I liked the idea of a solid wood floor they were a bit price prohibitive. Chris spoke to the company he sourced the carpets from to see if they could help. They didn’t do wood floors but were quick to recommend a new local wood flooring company, True Wood Floors. They spoke very highly of them so I got in touch. I have to say from my first contact with Rob I was impressed. His polite, passionate and knowledgeable approach was so refreshing; I knew I could be confident in his recommendations and the quality of work we would receive.

“Rob visited and showed us lots of options. I trusted his opinion so much I asked him what he thought would work best. He said a herringbone style of wood floor would be perfect for our brief to reflect the character of the house and give the hallway the wow factor. With that in mind he recommended V4 Wood Flooring’s Deco Parquet collection as he’d always had a good experience of installing them and they were great quality.”

The family spent some time looking at the different tones and finish options and decided to individually pick their favourite and see if there was a preferred choice. Amazingly it was unanimous; we all chose the Oak Smoked finish. It just had the perfect tones, not too light or dark, and would be so warm and welcoming in the hallway. They would also work well with our existing furniture and the neutral carpet colour they would meet in adjoining rooms and on the stairs. Deco Parquet Oak Smoked is a new tone recently introduced into the popular Deco Parquet herringbone collection.  To create the unique warm tones found in each oak block the oak top layer is stored in a smoking chamber and exposed to processes that darken and enrich the natural wood colours creating a finished floor that is full of natural tonal variety. The floors were installed in under three days by a small installation team from True Wood Floors. The old carpets were removed before ply board was laid to ensure an even sub-floor. The guys did a great job and were a pleasure to have around. With the hallway floors meeting quite a few doorways to other rooms they did an expert job adding block border detailing and creating a seamless transition to the mix of carpet and tile flooring in the adjoining rooms. The finished floors certainly deliver the impact the couple were hoping for in their home’s entrance. The herringbone style blocks feel modern, but also play to the character of the home, and the warm smoked tones become the main feature of the space, contrasting beautifully with the neutral colour palette and wood furniture pieces This phase of the project was all about updating the floors which we had waited such a long time to do. Next will be thinking about a new kitchen and replacing the old tiled floor in there. For now though we are absolutely thrilled with our new hallway floors. Rob was so helpful from start to finish so we were really confident to let him guide us on what would work best in the space and for the style of home. He was spot on that a herringbone wood floor would be the perfect choice.

“They are also proving extremely hard wearing in such a high traffic area and are so quick and simple to keep clean. I was a bit worried about our dog making marks but that has not proved to be a problem at all. They seem such high quality and the tonal changes and textures are just beautiful, we couldn’t be happier.”