At Kite, we get asked a lot for family friendly floors. These need to be practical for busy family life (think dogs, kids, a busy kitchen etc). But also design-led, so they look and feel awesome.
At Kite, we’re a little different from other retailers, in that we don’t offer 1000s of similar flooring options. We work hard to curate the best of the best floors for each use case. So, to create the ultimate family floor, we know you need it to be –
- Hard wearing – So only use the best quality oils (our oils are from Ciranova). Ideally these should be oils that have dried into the veneer of the oak flooring (we call these stained or hard wax oiled floors). We do have some more cost effective floors that will work just fine. But if you’re talking about the ultimate floor… then it should use the best of the best oils.
- Have some texture, but not too much – a little texture in a floor can make it more forgiving for bumps and scrapes. From a design perspective, texture also helps accentuate a Herringbone pattern, giving the impression that darker planks are running down one side of the line.
- Mid-toned. But not boring – Mid-toned floors, so invisible oiled floors, or slightly warmer floors, are the most versatile floors as they work with any design style. To make things interesting, you can layer oils on a floor, to accentuate the grain.
- Patterned. But Clean Grade – If we’re talking about an ultimate floor, we would go for a Herringbone, but in a clean grade (so very few knots. Rustic herringbones, in a mid-tone colour can look too busy). The size of the Herringbone should be designed so it flows perfectly between the kitchen island and the units.
So, with these factors in mind, we developed the EPPING NATURAL floor. It’s finished with several coats of Hard Wax oil, so is super hard wearing. The oils are also layered, to accentuate the grains, and the surface is textured a little more than normal, which gives both design and practical benefits. It’s not the only floor we sell that can work in a family setting. But we think it’s the ultimate.
If you think this floor could work in your project, then the next step is to book an appointment at our showroom. Note, we don’t post samples of our high-end floors. It’s not us being difficult. It’s just that we strongly believe you can’t judge floors with small samples. You need to see the whole floor; with its colour variations and imperfections. And you can only do that with large sample boards.
We’re open 6 days a week in our Shoreditch showroom, from Monday to Saturday, and you can BOOK ONLINE.
