The demand for prefinished flooring has been steadily growing over the past few years and is set to be a major flooring trend for 2013/14. To accommodate this demand, Naturally Wood has just opened its new on-site prefinishing unit which offers a wide range of flooring treatments, to provide tailor-made flooring ready for installation.
The Appeal of Prefinished Flooring
The key benefit of prefinished flooring from Naturally Wood is the greater choice and exclusivity it offers, enabling our clients to choose textures, colours and finishes to their exact specifications, rather than being limited by the range produced by the manufacturer.
Other benefits include greater consistency of design as our quality control checks are made stringently. In addition, this type of flooring is quicker to install, with less mess made on site, so disruption is kept to a minimum. This is ideal not only for homes, but for businesses too, as the management doesn’t have to shut up shop, or provide alternative routes for staff and customers, for extended periods of time.
It is not just the end client that benefits from prefinished flooring, but also contractors and interior designers. With prefinished flooring, an interior designer can get agreement on the exact flooring and texture, before the product is delivered, leading to greater customer satisfaction; while a contractor benefits from faster installation times.
In previous years, these advantages were also accompanied by limitations. Prefinished meant ‘off the shelf’, so the choice was restricted to the styles and colours that manufacturers could be confident of selling. Anything outside the norm was harder to get as manufacturers were more likely to stick to the popular, mainstream flooring styles. Having something bespoke, or simply a little unusual, meant the flooring had to be hand finished on site by specialists and this became a lengthy and expensive business. Naturally Wood’s onsite prefinishing unit not only gives wider flooring options, but it also helps cut the cost of bespoke flooring.
Naturally Wood Brings You Bespoke Prefinished Flooring
With Naturally Wood’s prefinishing unit, all the advantages of prefinishing are available, with as much design choice as a client could want. The variations include a vast choice of colour, three elements of texture (brushed, bandsawn, and distressedt), a variety of surface finishes, as well as staining and fumed/smoked choices. This bespoke service is in addition to our new Creations range of 36 textured and coloured prefinished floors.
Prefinished Flooring Trends for 2013/14
Here are some of the current flooring trends for 2013/14, showing how access to a bespoke prefinishing unit will help customers achieve these trends more easily.
Variety – Almost a ‘non trend’, this trend sees customers looking for innovation and originality, rather than copying a few set colours or styles of flooring. This means that while some customers are looking for very pale, blond flooring, just as many want dramatic, dark flooring, and many want neutral mid-tones or colours.
Exotic Woods – While Oak will never go out of fashion, there is an increasing interest in exotic woods such as Wenge, Merbau, Teak and Jatoba, which stems from the desire for variety and originality. The interest in the exotic is also fuelled by increased availability of these woods from ethical sources, , promoting sustainable forest management. However, finding the exotic wood flooring you want that is also in the width, type and finish you require, can be harder work. With Naturally Wood’s bespoke prefinishing unit, getting the colour you desire means this is no longer a limitation.
Reduced Shine – The high gloss trend of five years ago has receded and now there is a move towards more natural looking materials. In flooring this means a preference for oiling, waxing or matt lacquers, rather than super shiny lacquering. Bespoke finishing allows customers to get exactly the right level of gloss (or not) that they want, regardless of the timber type or other treatments.
Durability and Convenience – Customers are increasingly looking for long termvalue, rather than a quick flooring option to be replaced in a few years’ time. However, they also want quick and easy installation. This is exactly what our prefinishing unit provides - hardwood flooring that lasts for decades, but is produced in a form that is ready to walk upon immediately after installation.
Wider Planks – There is a general move towards wider planked floors and this gives an older, more traditional look. In addition to wider planks, customers also want an aged or distressed texture to accent this. Bespoke prefinishing provides this as it allows the customer to choose the width of the plank they like from our range, and then it is treated with the right level of ageing/distressing for their project.
Setting the Trends
Bespoke prefinished flooring allows clients, architects and interior designers to design their own flooring to suit their requirements because they are no longer limited to what is available off the shelf. Rather than having to follow flooring trends set by the manufacturers, our customers can set their own trends, without having to endure the expense, unpredictability, and long installation times of a bespoke site-finished floor.
Prefinished Flooring – click here to find out more about our solid wood flooring products.
