Picture a family, call them the Grant family (not their real name). They’ve decided they want to fit an engineered wood floor in their home. A great decision! Their fairly conservative; they want a natural wood finish which is low maintenance but, as with any wood floor, it will be a big investment. They want to get it right (this scenario is playing out in hundreds of homes right now).
The Grant’s know what they want; an engineered wood floor in a natural finish. They go to the local flooring shop. Pretty quickly they’ll see something they like, perhaps our Whitstable range, in Natural Oak. Decision made!
But then they’ll be confronted by 1,000s of more options. Do they want Lacquered or Oiled? Easy enough, but how about Matt Lacquered, Brushed, Hand-Scraped, Charred, Sawn, Smoked, Aged, Plained or Burned. And the colour? There are 100s of versions of natural oak. And what about the grade of the wood? Do they want knots or not? Or something in between?
They will then discover that not all engineered wood is equal. The middle or “core” can be made of different materials. Sometimes it’s plywood, sometimes birch and ply and sometimes HDF (High-Density Fibreboard). And what about the top layer? Should it be 2.5, 3, or 6mm? And what size should the boards be? Long or short, thick or thin? Ahhhhhhhh
This process will send the Grants into a spin. Samples will be ordered from multiple sources. They’ll spend hours trawling websites to find that elusive product that they’re sure exists, but they’re not sure what it looks like. 100s of samples will be laid on the floor to compare with furniture. Many photos will be taken. Friends opinions will be asked, who will squint at photos, struggling to tell the difference between products. This process will go on for weeks, maybe months.
Finally, they will pull out the Whitstable, Natural Oak sample, the one from the very beginning. This is probably sitting beneath their junk mail in the corner of the kitchen that nobody clears out. They’ll decide that that this was probably the best after all and will order the floor. And never think of it again.
To help make this process as easy as possible, Kite offer a curated range. We have a high-quality floor for almost every taste and budget. And, if you’re looking for a natural oak floor, we suggest you simply order our Whitstable Natural Oak and save yourself the hassle.
We’re taking orders on info@kite-flooring.com 🙂
