The Outdated Floor Pattern You Should Leave Behind In 2025

There are many reasons hardwood floors will always be the right choice for a home. Hardwood floors are one of the most durable flooring options, providing soundproofing qualities and easy cleaning for busy families. There are many color options available for this type of material, making it easy to match any design aesthetic and increase the home's overall value. But before investing in new flooring, you should be mindful of the one hardwood floor pattern that you should leave in the past, which is the use of narrow planks.

Narrow hardwood planks were very popular in homes built during the early 1900s and remained admired all the way into the 1960s. Hardwood flooring lasts between 25 and 50 years on average, but some can last up to 100 years, meaning that many of the floors with this narrow plank pattern are ready to be replaced to accommodate modern design preferences.

There's a lot you need to consider before installing hardwood flooring in your home, either as a new flooring option or as a replacement, and one of the factors is wood width and patterns. Leave the narrow planks in the past and choose one of the more trendy patterns that will be sure to carry into the future.

So, if narrow hardwood planks are out and dated, what's a good option to make your home feel fresh and in the current century? First of all, wide planks are the way to go. Wide planks are between 6 and 12 inches wide and provide a more open, expansive, and modern aesthetic than their narrow plank counterpart. Wide planks also minimize the number of seams in your flooring, ultimately making the room flow better. 

Additionally, to make your flooring current, try experimenting with geometric patterns, especially in large rooms. Chevron patterns boast a continuous "V" shape, which creates a zig-zag effect on the floor. The herringbone pattern also looks like it zig-zags but is more of a "broken" pattern since wood planks are cut at a 90-degree angle (versus the 45-degree angle of the chevron pattern). Both of these options create a sense of movement and visual interest for your hardwood floor, and ultimately elevate the overall design of the space.

You can also upgrade your hardwood flooring to be trendy versus dated by considering the best hardwood floor colors, according to design experts. For 2025 and beyond, focus on warm and neutral colors. Gray hardwood flooring is still a popular choice, but many homeowners are shifting towards browns like caramel and chestnut to add richness and depth to their spaces.