3 Wide Plank Floor Styles for Industrial Home Décor

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If you have ever designed a home or renovated a space, be it residential or commercial, you know how important the floors are to the overall look and feel of a room. Finding the right wood floor for an industrial-style decor is no exception — some may argue it can be even more challenging because the “industrial” design resonates so differently with people — beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. Some may be thinking of original brick walls, wrought iron accents, exposed beams and ventilation pipes. Others may be envisioning a clean, sophisticated upgrade that maximizes the space but refashions the natural rusticity.

Here are three floor designs that will fit no matter how rustic or refined your want your industrial decor to be.

1. Distressed Wood Flooring

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“Industrial” home décor resonates with people as a more relaxed, rustic look. One of the best ways to create this is with a distressed wood floor. Distressed flooring comes in a variety of textures, for some they envision the floor having knots and character. Others envision saw marks and rough texture on the board for a truly distressed look.

You can also achieve a distressed floor with the use of antique or reclaimed wood. Reclaimed Grandpa’s Floor is one of the best examples of that — filled to the brim with 200 years of history as an original floorboard. It has nail holes, color variation, checks, saw marks and more, which is give it a very distressed look — one of the more extreme varieties. You can also find Oak, Chestnut, and Heart Pine which is just as beautiful, although not quite as rustic and filled with a charming history of knots, nail holes, wormholes and distressing that will add character to any space.

Reclaimed wood flooring from Carlisle Wide Plank Floors

2. Dark Wood Flooring

Industrial buildings are being renovated into modern residential spaces. One of the most favorite architectural elements of these renovated spaces are the oversized windows that seem to be an iconic staple of these structures.

Living Room

When you have an abundance of natural light streaming into the space, you have the perfect environment to install dark wood flooring — a look that is intense, timeless and best of versatile. Whether you want something rustic or refined, you can find a wide plank floor that will suit your personal taste. If you want to use dark flooring, like Walnut flooring, but you don’t have a lot of natural light, you can paint the interior a lighter, brighter color to allow for this installation.

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Dark wood flooring can be designed and created many different ways. Some floors, like Walnut, are naturally dark. In this case you bring out the dark richness of the wood with an oil/amber type finish. Some clients even like to start with a floor like Walnut, for the natural cocoa tones, but choose to use a clear finish, so it maintains the natural colors without being too dark — a great example of that is this Miami loft used a clear matte finish on Carlisle wide plank walnut flooring.

3. Natural Wood Flooring

Depending on the look you want to create, you may find you do not need to stain or distress your flooring to make it look just right. Wide plank floors create a tremendous opportunity to show off the natural beauty of a floor, which was carefully sawn from a tree that has been growing for nearly 80-100 years.

White Oak Flooring from Carlisle Wide Plank Floors

White Oak flooring, as seen above, and Hickory flooring, as seen below are by far the most popular when it comes to wide plank floor designs with natural beauty and character.

In Conclusion

No matter what style wood floor you want to create — distressed, dark or natural — in your industrial space, don’t just focus on the color or texture. This is a common mistake that clients can make when selecting a floor, especially when using wood flooring samples. While these design characteristic makes your floor look pretty, there are other, equally important attributes, that will determine the overall beautiful, stability and performance of your floor.

For this reason, it is important to focus on the intrinsic characteristics and the dimensions of the boards, as well as the color and texture you want, and in some cases, one might be better than the other. For example, you would never want to invest in a 4″ distressed wood floor, as this would look too busy. You should aim for a floor design at least 6-8″ wide minimum. Random widths are also popular especially in reclaimed and antique wood both for aesthetic and material utilization.

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If you are looking for more ideas download our Buyer’s Guide or contact us to speak with a Wide Plank Flooring Specialist.
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