FOCUS ON WOOD & LAMINATE Wood Times


The experts from hardwood flooring specialist Listone Giordano discuss the main considerations to make


when coordinating wood flooring to furniture and the rest of the interior within a room.


How to harmonise wood flooring with the rest of the furniture is just the beginning of an interior design project.


The complete process is triggered by the analysis of the style, the spaces, the colour palette of the house and much more. It is important to have a clear overview of the big picture before choosing the individual elements.


Harmoniously matching a wood floor with furniture and other design elements of a room can often be a complex matter and, therefore, many considerations must be made during the floorcovering selection process.


Having made a significant resurgence over the past few years, parquet-style wooden flooring is a particularly sought-after choice for homes right now. However, its often eye-catching design can make matching it to furniture an even bigger challenge. Sometimes parquet may be incorporated in the finishes of tables, cabinets, partition walls or even kitchen tops and splashbacks. In other cases, we start the process from colour samples of some focal elements of furniture to realise the wooden flooring customised productions to achieve the perfect match with the colour sample.


Probably the most interesting parquet designs are those with enhanced and tactile grains, almost recreating a very natural, three-dimensional effect. When matching a parquet floor to furniture, you must evaluate the overall “statement” of the pattern.


If it is a bold wood, such as mahogany,


wengé, walnut or with an evident marked vein, combining it with materials and furniture with as many rich woods should be avoided. In this way, the eye will be attracted by a predominant element, the floor, and will read more easily all the combinations.


Some general advice we have collected from designers on how to match parquet flooring to furniture, doors and wall colours can be summarised below:


First of all, the overall theme of an interior must be taken into consideration. If the style of the house is classic or chic, dark colours can work well. For a Nordic or minimalist effect, light or even bleached wood colours fit the theme perfectly. To suit the industrial taste of some homeowners, there are a plethora of rustic, “distressed” wood flooring options available.


In general, it is good advice to avoid strong contrasts, especially between floors and doors. However, this does not apply to neutral colours, like black and white, which usually coordinate well with all floor colours.


14 | Tomorrow’s Retail Floors


An important guideline to follow is to avoid combinations between very different floors in the same house, or the controversial combination of real wood and wood-effect ceramic tiles.


Architects and designers are increasingly requesting and using a natural wood surface throughout the house, including the bathroom and the kitchen which were once considered off-limits areas for the material.


Another point to mull over is the size of the room in question. As a general principle, cooler toned wood floors are more suitable for small houses, with reduced open spaces. Dark hued wood floors, even in larger planks, fit well in larger and brighter houses because they have the characteristic of making the space seem narrower.


It uses the same wood or a shaded wood, whose character is more similar to a homogeneous surface (for example, an open pore lacquer).


Dark is fine, but without exaggeration. Unless your client is looking for a museum-esque or vintage-style interior, do not overdo the dark combinations. Dark wood tends to oxidise and darken, so a dark wall to match a dark floor can often be a step too far. Dark wood flooring with light walls or furnishings makes for an elegant combination and can work well for minimalistic homes. Where coloured walls are concerned, a dark wood floor should also be considered, as the colour should be well balanced to prevent the mountain- cabin effect. Whilst it is not for everyone, a dark floor paired with a dark ceiling but offset by light walls can create an effective, dramatic look.


www.listonegiordano.com/en www.tomorrowsretailfloors.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34