Hardwood Flooring Trends - Finishes

Welcome back to our article series dedicated to exploring the best wood flooring trends of 2021. We have already discussed the trendiest wood flooring colours of the year in our previous blog article. Make sure to check it out and learn more about what colour of wood flooring will complement your home's interior in the upcoming year and what colour to choose if you are considering transforming the look of your existing floor and investing into a new one.

Today we continue discussing the trendiest wood flooring finishes and sheens for the year. The finish of your floor is as important as the colour in the context of appearance and style. Besides protecting the wooden floor from wear and tear and a bunch of issues, choosing the right finish can contribute a lot to creating a unique and beautiful style for your floor that perfectly fits your home's interior. Therefore, whenever you are thinking of wood flooring trends, do not consider colours only as the finish and the effect it gives is equally important and also worth your attention. Here are the trendiest wood flooring finishes and sheens of the year, make sure to check them out and find something that is your cup of tea for your next wood floor renovation project.

Natural Looking Finishes

Unlike the colour extremes that are trendy in the context of real wood flooring right now, the trend when it comes to finish is definitely shifting towards a more natural and subtle look. Therefore, more and more real wood floors are not finished in matte, satin, and other flatter and more subtle sheens. Gone are the days of high gloss wood floor finishes and these are definitely some good news since high gloss finishes are really challenging to maintain and keep in good condition. A high gloss finish is definitely not the best one at camouflaging dust, dirt, and surface imperfections like scratches, it tends to start looking worn and distressed pretty soon after application. Especially matched with dark wood floors, and dark wood is a huge trend of the year, very glossy finishes are simply a nightmare to keep in good condition.

Therefore, you will find the low lustre trend of the year pretty comforting and likeable. Besides being easier to maintain, flatter sheens are also very creative and interesting as they can give a completely new appearance of every wooden floor and even the most traditional colour and style. Flat finishes are not only popular for hardwood floors but also for paints for your walls. Matte and satin finishes are easy to maintain, practical, and very beautiful. These finish options look good for a longer and you won't have to refinish your floor way too often and go through all the hassle and stress.

Higher Grade and Eco-Friendly Oil and Polyurethane Finishes

Besides the focus on-trend, this year's trendiest finishes come with a very huge focus on saving nature and opting for more eco-friendly and harmless options. First of all, you will find high-grade polyurethane a better choice in terms of durability, hard-wearing, and long-lasting power. Choose a finish that is both a higher grade and environmentally friendly. Besides the number of advantages, such finishes also smell significantly less and dry and cure pretty quickly, which ensures more comfort and convenience for you after a refinishing project.

Alternatively, oil finishes are a pretty huge trend at the moment too. Oil wood floor finishes have zero VOCs, which makes them the most eco-friendly and harmless option available on the market right now. In addition, oil finishes look supernatural when applied and cured, they penetrate into wood's structure giving it strength and durability from within while on the surface oil enhances the beauty of the natural texture and colour of wood without transforming and changing them.

Oil wood floor finishes use a number of different natural vegetable oils as ingredients, which makes them the perfect choice if you are trying to be more conscious and eco-friendly. In addition, oil wood floor finishes are the easiest choice for every enthusiastic DIY-er. They can easily be reapplied without the need for sanding the floor first, which makes them easier to handle when it comes to spot repairs and fixes.

On-Site Refinishing

Now, when it comes to the choices you have with hardwood flooring when you are planning to invest into a new one, you can always choose between purchasing an already finished floor or purchasing an unfinished one. The advantage of the first option is that the floorboards come already sanded and with a finish applied at the factory, which means less hassle for you, less thing to deal with and less services to pay for. The only thing that these prefinished wooden floorboards need is to be installed and that is all.

However, unfinished wood floors come as "raw" material, which means they have to be re-sanded and refinished on-site once they are installed. This may sound like a lot of hassle and stress to deal with, however, more and more people opt for unfinished wood flooring, because it provides the opportunity to unleash your creativity and create a unique floor that perfectly suits your interior style.

In addition, site finished wood floors look more sleek and professional, and the finish is more consistent across the whole floor, which ensures a uniform and even look. However, probably one of the biggest advantages of on-site finished wood flooring is that it is easier to maintain and keep clean because unlike prefinished wood floors, on-site finished flooring does not have micro-bevelled edges where dust and dirt tend to usually get caught.

Wire Brushed and Textured Floors

Wire brushed wood floors is one more trend that continues to grow in the new year. The effect of wire-brushed flooring further enhances the uniqueness and beauty of the natural texture of wood, keeping its natural beauty and look while adding a bit of character and edginess to the overall appearance of the floor. Wire brushed wood floors are the more modern and subtle version of distressed wood flooring.

The wire brushing enhances the graining of the wood, therefore, wire-brushed wooden floors often come with this old-world charm and character that make the floor the statement piece of every interior. Besides very beautiful and unique, wire-brushed wood floors are also very practical because they camouflage dirt and smaller imperfections perfectly. This means that your floor won't start looking worn and town too soon and you don't have to invest in a wood floor refinishing treatment way too often.

Wire brushing has to be done by hand and it is a pretty labour intensive job, therefore you will mostly find wire brushed floors in a prefinished option and not many wood floor specialists would know how to make this technique and achieve the desired results on-site.