2012 Flooring Trends: Silverwood Flooring & Junckers

From ever popular grays and neutrals to striking Easter-egg pastels, the current trends wood-flooring transform the plane beneath our feet into a canvas of endless possibilities. Toronto-based Silverwood Flooring recently released their Top 10 Flooring Trends for 2012, and I find it is an accurate compilation representative of the global market in boutique wood flooring for commercial and residential use. These are updated with a palette that goes from one sober end of the spectrum (pigeon-feather-inspired blue-grays, warm European cobblestone neutrals, and peachy hues) and on to a world of candy-colored options. Throughout, the environment does not have to be sacrificed for aesthetics of luxury.

Environmentally conscious hardwood flooring companies such as Denmark’s Junckers (a carbon neutral company which takes pride in using 100 percent of logs for flooring and steam energy) provide products sourced from sustainably managed forests with certified manufacturing facilities. In fact, their solid Single Stave block wood flooring series is suitable for installation over concrete. Just weeks ago, Junckers and H&M signed a global contract for use of the company’s Black Harmony product in clothing stores worldwide.

Junckers states that some of their products are compatible for use with underfloor heating, for which they recommend specifiers find boards with proper low-moisture content, guarded by tight production and quality control as well as testing for product use with UFH and ideally have some endorsement from UFHMA (Underfloor Heating Manufacturer’s Association). Check out Junckers’ Design Collection’s Mountain Silver planks-dark black oak brushed and stained with a silver pigment and sealed with their proprietary UltraMatt lacquer; it was used recently for catwalks during Copenhagen’s fashion week.