Parquet Flooring Styles & Patterns: The Ultimate Guide For Your Home

Imagine stepping into a room and knowing instantly you’re somewhere special. Somewhere luxurious, with a striking look all of its own. Originally an exclusive European flooring style dating back to 16th century France, parquet can transform how you and your family experience a room. Available in a variety of traditional or contemporary materials, allow yourself to be inspired by the range of parquet style flooring on offer.

Turn a room into an experience with parquet flooring styles

Parquet is a flooring style that historically uses rectangular wooden blocks, rather than long, straight boards, to cover your floor. A warmer and more organic alternative to cold tiles, block sizes can be anything from a few inches to half a metre long. They sit together to create a variety of eye-catching, geometric patterns.

Our parquet flooring is available in solid or engineered wood, premium laminate or LVT and high-quality vinyl options, all of which create a dynamic, striking effect in any room. Real wood blocks will be lacquered and fully bonded to your floor to guarantee long-lasting stability and durability. Meanwhile, laminates, LVT and vinyl are easier to fit, giving the same result quickly and effectively.

As you’ll see, parquet can suit a variety of different rooms and spaces – no matter the size, shape or illumination. With a wide choice of colours, tones and textures, you’ll find no shortage of inspiration for your home.

Different parquet patterns

Patterns such as herringbone and chevron have become extremely popular over the last two years, whereas more intricate ‘basket weave’ or ‘brick & ladder’ designs are less frequently seen. These styles can also bring a sophisticated, dynamic look to your rooms. Let’s examine each pattern more closely and see which might suit your spaces.

Herringbone flooring

Simple and yet highly attractive, the herringbone pattern is the most popular and classic design for parquet flooring. Herringbone blocks are laid at right-angles so they form an interlocking pattern across the floor. The points are aligned either parallel to the longest wall or running towards the main window.

Depending on your ambitions for the overall decor and atmosphere of your room, you might go for any number of the distinctive colours, tones and textures available across our ranges. Unfinished engineered oak complements rooms with a lighter, more neutral tone, as does grey herringbone flooring. Or for a deeper, richer effect it’s worth considering any number of the dark herringbone types, from smoked to charcoal vinyl and more.

You might also want to explore more diverse effects, such as Distressed or Reclaimed Herringbone Flooring. These can give your rooms a more traditional edge, as if they have a story to tell.

The highly-versatile herringbone parquet flooring style is available in a variety of products to suit every room. LVT is both durable and waterproof, making it perfect for high-traffic areas such as hallways, kitchens and bathrooms, while high-quality vinyl, laminate and engineered wood bring a sophisticated finish to dining rooms, living rooms and bedrooms. Be sure to check out all the options by room in the above menu.

Example herringbone patterns

A classic herringbone parquet pattern is that shown in our real or engineered wood range - for example the premium Natural Oak with Brushed Matt Lacquer.

A similarly pleasing effect can be gained with a charming wood-effect laminate - such as our Faded Oak Laminate - at a fraction of the cost of real wood.

Or you may like to venture towards a more budget conscious approach with a coloured textured vinyl flooring, such as our luscious Charcoal Vinyl Parquet.

Basketweave flooring

The basketweave parquet flooring pattern is a characterful variation on the theme, placing a section of blocks side-by-side to create a square, then doing so again at a ninety-degree angle and continuing to build out the design in this way across the floor. The overall effect is that of continuing lines of wood weaving over and under each other.

With our parquet floor panels generally created at a 4:1 ratio (e.g. 15cms wide by 60cms long), laying four in a block next to each other results in a perfect square.

This is particularly effective with smaller blocks and darker wood tones, as you might have typically found in period residencies. This said, when combined with modern materials and lighter wood, the pattern can create a stunning effect. You might even enjoy experimenting with darker and lighter blocks to create an eye-catching chessboard pattern!

Example basketweave patterns

You can create a basketweave pattern using the same blocks as for conventional herringbone designs, especially the real wood options. Imagine alternating sections of the premium Engineered Barn Oak or Smoke Grey Oak bringing a unique look to your dining room or kitchen.

FDF have also created a range of high-quality Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT) that would suit a larger-scale version of the basketweave pattern. In particular, the Cask Oak and lighter Nutwood Oak perform especially well in this context.

Brick & ladder flooring

Using products available in our herringbone range, you can also create an exciting parquet floor using the ‘brick & ladder’ design. Rather than laying blocks at right-angles, the wooden panels are laid end-to-end in lines, offset against each other. This emulates the pattern you would expect in a typical brick wall, or looking at a thin ladder.

This works well with any tone or size of panels, and can be a neat ‘middle ground’ between the diagonal zig-zag style of the herringbone parquet flooring and a conventional floorboard pattern, whether using real wood parquet, laminate parquet or LVT.

Example brick & ladder patterns

Real wood panels that would be most suitable for a brick & ladder pattern include our stylish Cubano Oak or Natural Oak with an oiled finish. Both bring deep grain and excellent character to any room where you want to make an impact.

We’re constantly looking to expand our product range to accommodate different styles. Check out our Instagram account for inspiration and hear about our latest products as they come available.

Chevron flooring

Finally, you can create the chevron pattern for parquet flooring in a similar manner to a herringbone design, but with a vital difference. The long panels are still laid at right-angles, but the points are engineered so they don’t form an overlapping pattern like brickwork, but come together at an equal angle.

The result is a striking zig-zag effect with precise, clean lines. Very similar to the pattern of fish bones emanating diagonally from a central spine. This serves to emphasise the length or light in the room.

Example chevron patterns

Our Prestige Classic Chevron Brown flooring is the most versatile product in this style, being suitable for a wide range of environments that may see a lot of footfall or traffic, from kitchens to hallways, dining rooms and living rooms.

Coloured textured laminate in a chevron pattern will also create the same effect in a fraction of the time it takes to lay a full floor. Our high-quality Ecostep Alaska Cushioned vinyl also delivers an optimum effect to enliven your home or workplace.

Which parquet flooring should I go for?

Much will depend on the overall style, tones and colours you are aiming for in your property. The nature of the spaces where you want to introduce parquet flooring will also be important.

Practicality and durability will also be a factor. Consider how much traffic you expect in the room and whether you need your flooring to be completely waterproof, slip-resistant, etc. You might also think about the speed of fitting and, of course, the cost, especially in a commercial environment.

But in the end, always go for the style and tone that makes you feel most comfortable. All our flooring products are designed to last, and you won’t want to change them again any time soon!