Image Courtesty Kentwood Brushed American Walnut

From Calgary, Coast to Coast, Consumer Reports and the Home Improvement and Design Expo in Minneapolis, design professionals and consumers alike are taking a walk on the light side of hardwood flooring.

Livingston 5″ Engineered Hardwood Red Oak Flooring in Natural

How do I know 8 Hardwood Flooring Trends? In my effort to disprove that I made a mistake in my selection of DARK hardwood that I installed last year in my own home, I researched several sources.  My findings….I installed dark hardwood and the new, awesome, what everybody has to have is light, white washed, natural, distressed and roughed-up hardwood.

I always try to err on the side of home-buyer demand when it comes to my home improvements. Not that I’m selling anytime soon, but just in case I always take a trendy, practical outlook to a better ROI.  What can I say, I’m budget conscious and what’s wrong with a little profit.

Hatteras 5″ Engineered Hardwood Oak Flooring in Pelican

I don’t make this stuff up it’s coming straight from World Floor Covering Association, the National Wood Flooring Association, Consumer Reports and the most recent Home Improvement and Design Expo, plus about 20+ design articles that I researched (I hate being wrong).

Here’s the lowdown on hardwood flooring trends:

• Lighter tones and wider planks in real wood or an engineered product.
• Driftwood or white washed beachy looks.
• Domestic Exotics-ash, hickory and natural walnut
• Red oak and white oaks can be used and can be easily stained for any design trend.
• 6 inch wide planks that are longer in length are showing up in high end homes (ha! I got that one covered, well at least the length and width).
• Rustic, reclaimed wood from buildings, homes, barns, etc. is being used in casual, contemporary and traditionally furnished homes.
• Distressed, roughed-up, wire-scraped woods that hide dents, dings and scratches.
• Using finishes that allow the grain of the wood to be more visible, for a rustic or natural look.

There you have it! I did the research you can be safe in assuming that if you are getting ready to sell your home you will be able to make updates that will provide you a good return on investment.

In the meantime, take a peek below at all the wonderful floors I found for you, that everyone else is going to have and I won’t have because I installed the dark, wide planked, distressed stuff last year 🙁