Wood Flooring Options Interior Designers Love

When choosing the right flooring, wood floors are a timeless and natural option. As a sustainable building material, wood offers numerous design possibilities rooted in nature. Plank floors come in a variety of wood types with different colors, finishes, textures, and patterns. With custom solutions, you can create unique spaces and design combinations. Here are five plank options that interior designers love and are definitely worth a look.

 

1. Full-length planks

Full-length planks are laid continuously across the entire room – also known as “lock planks” or “long planks.” The result is a seamless look that makes rooms appear larger and deeper, especially when the planks are aligned parallel to walls or sources of light. The even joint pattern creates an elegant, modern appearance, offering designers plenty of creative freedom.

With Douglas fir, planks up to 15 meters long and 40 cm wide can be achieved, while silver fir planks are available up to 10 meters long and 30 cm wide.

 

 

2. Light wooden floors in Scandinavian design

The softwoods silver fir and Douglas fir naturally have a light, friendly tone – ideal for interiors in the Scandinavian style. They are often treated with a whitewash, which not only protects against UV-induced yellowing but also gently brightens the wood. This creates a clear, airy look that perfectly complements Nordic design language.

Designers appreciate light wooden floors because they serve as a neutral, timeless base. They can be effortlessly combined with different furniture, textures, and decorative styles, making spaces visually larger and lighter.

Thanks to their light-reflecting qualities, white or light planks bring more brightness into a room. At the same time, they better conceal minor scratches and everyday wear – an aesthetic and functional advantage that makes these woods especially attractive for modern living and working environments.

3. Oak flooring with distinctive textures

Oak planks provide the perfect canvas for extraordinary finishes. Whether finely sanded, brushed to varying degrees, sawn, or air-dried – oak allows the creation of characterful surfaces that provide a rich sensory experience, both visually and to the touch.

Designers value this variety because they can shape moods through oak’s sensory qualities: texture, the sound underfoot, the warm tactile feel – all of this adds accents that make spaces feel alive.

Oak is not only strong at floor level; it also adds depth, warmth, and material presence to walls and ceilings. As an exceptionally durable wood, it is a reliable classic – ideal for hotels, spa areas, and public spaces, but equally suitable for private homes where longevity and design go hand in hand.

 

4. arrow planks with vertical growth rings

Planks with a high-quality rift or quarter-sawn cut create a particularly clean appearance. Rift-cut planks are sliced from the heartwood of the tree, resulting in a uniform surface pattern. The annual rings run nearly perpendicular to the board surface, which not only creates a unique design but also enhances the surface hardness of the flooring. HIRAM Habitat produces these types of planks from Douglas fir and white fir. They are narrower than wider tongue-and-groove planks and are suitable for floors, walls, and ceilings.