Hard Surface Heaven

Freed’s Floors is in hardwood heaven! Hardwood is, and continues to be, a favorite kind of hard surface flooring. Not only does it add elegance to your home, it adds value. Hardwood is warm to the touch, versatile, fairly low maintenance, and long lasting. Freed’s Floors has a tremendous variety of hard wood floors – we have devoted more space than ever before to beautiful flooring samples and displays showing off all of the amazing options available to you. Whatever your desired style, Freed’s has a hardwood floor for that!

Let’s get a couple technical details out of the way before moving onto the good stuff (colors, trends and details – oh my!). The species of wood you choose is a very important consideration when deciding on hardwood. Obviously differing species results in a different grain pattern and look, however, your choice in species affects how much care and maintenance is required and how the hardwood can be expected to wear over time. Deciduous varieties, such as oak, maple and hickory, are very popular in the Black Hills area. This is both for aesthetics and maintenance. Climate plays a large roll in how wood flooring performs; oak, maple, and hickory react well to changes in temperature and humidity. More tropical varietals, such as acacia and bamboo, can absolutely be used in the Black Hills climate as long as humidity levels are more constant and controlled. In general, all species of pre-finished wood is hard and resilient, however, it can dent and scratch—that’s how you know it’s authentic wood, right? Just try to keep the kids’ three-wheeler riding outdoors and Sparky’s nails cut short, and that will help.

Whatever species, you select, the width and length of wood trends is also changing. Sizes are soaring to both ends of the spectrum regarding width. Expect to see ultra-wide planks (eight to nine inches wide) or very skinny planks (around three inches) in the coming months. Wide planks help to fill large, open spaces; think homes with open floor plans where wood is going through the kitchen, dining, and living room. Skinny planks are best reserved for smaller spaces such as closed off, formal dining rooms or partitioned living rooms. Lengths of planks are still varied; mixing long, medium and short planks helps to add interest and character to your design.

Freed’s Floors is LOVING the colors we are seeing in hardwood trends. Extremely dark (espresso colors) is on the way out and is being replaced with dark details and accents. Envision a medium brown base color with touches of dark, hand-scraped accents. Yummy. Cold, stark grays are being replaced with more greige tones—which is a mix of brown, beige and gray. Greige tones are excellent colors to utilize in your home because they are generally lighter and can go with numerous colors of paints, base and trim colors, and furniture colors. Those who are feeling a little more risky can take the plunge into deep blues. Dark blue tones in cobalt and navy are also making their way onto hardwood.

Finally, the way in which hardwood is finished also has a dramatic effect on the overall look. Hand-scraping leaves hardwood feeling more rustic. Rough-sewn feels shabby-chic in a modern farmhouse kind of way. Satin finish tends to be more transitional whereas glossy finish tends to be more traditional.

The combination of species, widths, colors, and finishes regarding hardwood is more diverse than ever. The experienced staff at Freed’s Floors would love to help express your creativity and desire to find the perfect hardwood you have been imagining. We are with you every step of the way—through product selection, installation, and service after the job is complete. We will see you soon at Freed’s Floors, 1825 Haines Ave, Rapid City—trusted for over 95 years.