Quick-Step Intenso

If I had to pick my all-time favourite flooring, it’d be oak, hands down. And if I had to narrow it further, it’d be oak laid in a chevron pattern. Evoking images of old French chateaus and Parisian apartments, chevron oak adds warmth, texture and movement.

Generally this style of flooring has always been fairly costly, so it’s lovely to see more affordable options such as Quick-Step Intenso come onto the market. Being the floors are so striking and such a design feature in themselves, take the following decorating tips into consideration when choosing chevron oak floors…

Selecting the right colour:
It depends on where you live and what look you’d like to achieve but I’m from sunny (sometimes horribly sunny) Brisbane and prefer my interiors light and white – so I’d be going for the Granola Oak, which is the closest colour to natural (unstained) oak. It’s slightly warm in tone, so I’d team with a slightly warm white on the walls, such as Dulux Natural White. That’s the thing to remember – team warm with warm and cool with cool. The Granola and Smoked Mountain oak are warm, whilst the Merino Grey and Chevy are cooler. The other thing to take into consideration is ease of cleaning. Whilst very light and dark floors look stunning on Pinterest, mid-toned floors hide dust, dirt and pet hair more effectively.

Playing with pattern:
As chevron is a pattern, be careful when mixing it with other patterns in the room. If the patterns are too similar, they’ll compete for attention and your interiors will look too busy. The trick is to mix up the scale and style of pattern. The chevron is a medium sized geometric pattern, so don’t add too many similar patterns. Mix it up. Soften the straight edges of the chevron with organic rounded shapes, such as florals or swirls. And don’t forget to change up the scale. In practice this may mean teaming chevron floors with scatter cushions in a large-scale floral. Let them complement not compete.

Tips on adding rugs:
As mentioned above, team warm with warm and cool with cool - and mix up the scale and style of your patterns. This is especially important when it comes to selecting rugs as they’re right on your floors, so any disharmony will be easily spotted. As the floor is already patterned, a plain rug will work really well. Just add one more element - texture. If you can, select a rug in a natural fibre, it’ll sit better on the timber. Wool laid on oak is particularly divine.