Wood Floors of Dallas Podcast

Wide Planks and White Oak: The Shifting Landscape of Hardwood Flooring

• Hunter Ross • Episode 7

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What Are The Top Flooring Trends For This Year?

Hardwood flooring design has undergone remarkable transformations in recent years, with today's trends reflecting both technological innovation and aesthetic evolution. As Hunter Ross explains, these shifts aren't random—they're driven by designers constantly seeking fresh ways to create beautiful, distinctive spaces that stand apart.

Remember those hand-scraped, rustic oak floors that dominated North Texas luxury homes regardless of interior style? That era has given way to something entirely different. Today's hardwood flooring landscape features dramatically wider planks—growing from traditional 2.25-inch boards to standard 7.5-inch planks and now expanding to stunning 9, 10, and even 12-inch widths that create a canvas-like effect in homes. This expansion has been made possible by engineered hardwood's superior stability, allowing for these impressive dimensions without sacrificing performance.

Color preferences tell an equally fascinating story of change. The once-ubiquitous gray floors have virtually disappeared from the market, replaced initially by light, beach-inspired white oak tones. But in a surprising twist, medium to darker brown floors are making a comeback, with rich nutmeg shades returning to favor. Alongside this color evolution, we're witnessing the rise of single-surface homes, where one flooring material flows throughout the entire space. This design choice isn't just aesthetically pleasing—it's psychologically sound, creating environments that feel more balanced and peaceful by eliminating disruptive transitions.

Looking toward the future, Hunter highlights groundbreaking products from companies like Boss Floors and Biellon that combine the authenticity of real wood with click-lock installation systems and unprecedented durability. These innovations promise to revolutionize the engineered hardwood market with products that are nearly waterproof, highly resistant to scratches, and much faster to install. For homeowners seeking to transform their spaces with the latest in hardwood flooring technology and design, call 972-525-0026 for a free in-home consultation.

To learn more about Wood Floors of Dallas visit:
https://www.WoodFloorDallas.com
Wood Floors of Dallas
159 W. Main St., Suite 200
Lewisville, Texas 75057
972-525-0026

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Wood Floors of Dallas podcast, where we bring expert insights on hardwood flooring design and craftsmanship, hosted by Hunter Ross, owner of Wood Floors of Dallas, with over 20 years in the building product industry. Whether you're a homeowner or a general contractor, we're here to help you create amazing spaces with honor, quality and expertise. Let's get started.

Speaker 2:

Styles change and flooring is no exception. Let's dive into the top hardwood flooring trends shaping homes this year. Welcome back everyone. I'm Sofia Yvette, co-host slash producer, back in the studio with Hunter Ross, owner of Wood Floors of Dallas Hunter. How's it going?

Speaker 3:

Very good, sofia, happy to be with you. Awesome, and it's great to.

Speaker 2:

Very good, sophia, happy to be with you Awesome, and it's great to have you back, hunter. So flooring trends evolve every year, but let's talk about what's making waves in the industry right now. What are the top flooring trends for this year?

Speaker 3:

Yep, that's a really good question and I think the best way to answer it is going to be to just discuss a little bit about how these trends come about. So, over time and over history, people get kind of used to what they have and they they have a desire to upgrade or make it better Right. And so designers really drive a lot of these trends. They're asked constantly how to make my space prettier? What can I do to make it better? What is everybody else doing? What should I not do? So that's where these trends come from. They're really design focused. Some trends come from new technologies, but most trends come from, over time, designers wanting to be able to create interesting new spaces that don't look the same as everybody else, right?

Speaker 3:

So in history, for instance in North Texas, we used to have tons of solid hardwood that was hand scraped and very rustic. It doesn't matter whatever the decor of the rest of the home was. If you had a really nice house, you had a hand scraped, beautiful hardwood oak floor. Probably typically it was a medium to a dark brown. So over the past number of years, those floors have faded out and what's really been popular in the past year and a half, few years is wider planks, and so right now, wider planks are still very popular. The average floor a while ago, when it came to the width of a plank, was about two and a quarter inches wide. Then it went to five inch. Now the staple is seven and a half inches, and we're really talking about engineered hardwood. One of the benefits to engineered hardwood is that it can be wider and wider because it's much more stable. So when we had the advantage of having a much more stable product, like with engineered, we allowed to go bigger and that the beautiful planks of hardwood, just it, just it looks prettier when it's in the home, right, you can see more of the natural beauty of the of the wood, and so that's really taken off and that's been going for a couple of years now.

Speaker 3:

Another thing that was in style that is completely not in style or on trend anymore is gray. Gray floors were everywhere. Now you cannot, you won't find anyone putting a gray floor in. If they they're doing it, that's probably because they bought the gray floor at a discount. That's why they chose to do it. Where are we at today? So light colors, think, think beach, right. Think very light colored white oak. That has been a staple for about a couple of years now, and one interesting thing that I've seen turn over the past few months is that people are going back to more darker floors again. So that's really on trend right now is the medium to nutmeg colors and the darker colors are actually coming back and, of course, the white oak is still like the staple the wide plank white oak.

Speaker 3:

Another thing that is really happening right now is, instead of doing a seven and a half inch wide plank, manufacturers are coming out with even larger planks. So now we have eight inch, nine inch, ten inch, twelve inch wide planks and if you see some of these floors installed, it looks. It looks like a canvas, it looks like art, because the having these huge wide planks, it's just there's. It's very hard to describe the beauty until you see one installed. So the uniqueness of the wide planks is definitely really moving and trending right now and the planks are getting larger and larger.

Speaker 3:

Some other trends that are happening is people are getting away from doing. With the advanced technology of, for instance, engineered hardwood, for example, you're allowed to put that material anywhere in the home. Now, for the most part, you want to have a, like a laundry room you want to have, you know, a larger bathroom like a master bath. You want tile in there, for the most part because it's really a wet area. But with the advancement in the structure and finishes that are happening on engineered hard wood, now they're so durable and they're not waterproof, but unless you're pouring water on the ground, they really stand up well. So what you're seeing is where people used to have tile in the kitchen or in entryways or whatever now the entire surface is covered in one type of flooring. You know, in this case, hardwood. What that does is it cuts down on maintenance, really, because instead of having to use multiple different types of products and multiple different types of tools, you've got one floor throughout your home. It's easy to maintain.

Speaker 3:

Another thing is when it comes to just the aesthetic beauty of it having one surface there's. This is I'm not making this up, this is real. This is it's feng shui. Okay, some people don't believe in it, but one surface there's. This is I'm not making this up, this is real. This is it's feng shui. Okay, some people don't believe in it, but it's real. It's you could, it's psychology.

Speaker 3:

So when you walk into a space that you'd never been in or if you walk into your home, for example, and there's a lot of different transitions of flooring materials. There is proven science that is measurable that it causes a little bit of like unease or a little it's in in psychology it's like a tiny bit of anxiety versus when you walk into a space that has that's more balanced and more even, and one of those things is colors, uh, like, for instance, on the floor, being across the entire floor, it actually puts your mind at ease and it makes you feel calmer and it makes you feel more comfortable. Now we're talking like little amounts. This is not something that's going to drive you crazy if you have two different types of floor, obviously, but anything that you can do to balance your home's environment and really create a more peaceful environment is something that's really good, and so designers have been educated about that and they're applying that to environment is something that's really good, and so designers have been educated about that and they're applying that to the projects they're doing as well. So you're finding in the trends that one surface is going throughout the whole entire home for the most part. The other thing is or I guess, another trend that's happening and it's been going on for a little while now, but it's really really happening. Now trend that's happening and it's been going on for a little while now but it's really really happening now is you're seeing carpet just disappear from homes. Carpet traps dust and it traps pollen and dander and all these other things and it's very difficult to clean. So you're seeing so tons of people that are taking out every single bit of their carpet in their home and putting a hard surface in, whether that be like a vinyl plank or an engineered hardwood. So that's happening a lot too.

Speaker 3:

When it comes to colorways I mentioned this earlier we were just like in a light blonde, white oak for everything. Now people are really digging into more colors, even cabinetry. Instead of cabinetry being all white, people are starting to go back with stained cabinets, et cetera, and so you're getting a lot of opportunities to work with new colors on your flooring and people are being very creative. It's a lot of fun. You've got mixes of like what I would call coffee and cream, for example. You've got some like colors that are multifaceted. So, like in the green, you would have a dark stain but then the rest of the board would be lighter. So stuff like that is just coming, becoming more available, and a lot of people are putting that in their homes and a lot of designers are really driving all that. So those are the kind of the main things I see right now and I think that's going to continue to grow.

Speaker 3:

There is a new product that's coming to market that people are starting to learn about.

Speaker 3:

If you're talking about the next trend, what is the hottest trend coming?

Speaker 3:

It's this.

Speaker 3:

There's a couple of products on the market.

Speaker 3:

One is called Boss Floors and one of them is called Biellon.

Speaker 3:

Those two products are a combination of easy installation with a click lock floor, and really tons of click lock floors are going in right now because they're just so much more efficient and the costs are much lower than doing a glue down hardwood. But those two companies are pioneering this new technology that will literally take over the majority of engineered hardwood in the future. It's just got too many benefits. Basically, it's almost waterproof, it's extremely, extremely scratch and dent resistant and the installation is just basically half the time. The installation is just basically half the time. So you've got a product that is similar in its construction and its installation as, say, a vinyl plank, but it's a real wood veneer product. So if you want to have something in your home that's going to last a long time, be the most durable floor that you could get and also have the authenticity of a real wood floor, you need to look into those two companies, because that is the next frontier and that is the hottest thing going in engineered hardwood and wood flooring right now.

Speaker 2:

Well, hunter, this was such a fun discussion. Flooring trends can completely transform space, and keeping up with them helps homeowners make the best choices. Thanks again, and we'll catch you on the next episode.

Speaker 3:

Awesome, Sophia. Thank you so much. Take care.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, you too.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in to Wood Floors of Dallas podcast. Ready to transform your space? Call 972-525-0026 for a free in-home consultation or visit woodfloordallascom to learn more. Work with honor, build with excellence. See you next time.