Maple and Cherry Wood
Red Oak, White Oak, Maple, and Cherry are the dominant species commonly used to make hardwood floors worldwide. Today, we’re focusing on the Maple and the Cherry, and the characteristics that have made these woods so popular.
Unfinished hardwood flooring means almost unlimited choices for your space. When choosing a hardwood floor, you want to match your home and your sense of style. Unfinished flooring means more options for intricate floor patterns and design. Of course, both the Maple and the Cherry are gorgeous species and can give charm, warmth, personality, and color to any Colorado home or business, without messing with its original composition.
Next time you’re shopping at Denver’s Crate & Barrel looking for interior design inspiration, take a look down at the gorgeous Maple flooring provided by our skilled wood flooring craftsmen.
Designing a hardwood floor takes many considerations, and picking the right wood will depend on how you envision the final product. In a sense, we need to talk about the vision of going back to the beginning and picking the right wood for each project.
The characteristics of Hard Maple for hardwood floors
The Hard Maple, as opposed to the Soft Maple, is a strong, solid, stable wood choice for hardwood floors. Maple’s creamy color is only broken up slightly by the light grain patterns that run from straight up and down the board, to sometimes creating swirling patterns, even tiny ovals sometimes referred to as “birds-eye.” These grains are very subdued and will not get in the way of staining your floors darker, should you want to do that.
One thing to look out for in the Hard Maple is minerals in the wood that can create darker, sometimes black, speckles or streaks in each board.
The characteristics of Cherry wood for hardwood floors
If you plan on staining your floors to a trendy gray, dark chocolate, or even black color, the glasslike smoothness of the Cherry wood once sanded is ideal. However, the natural red hues and smooth grain make this a beautiful hardwood floor all on its own. Most people who choose maple to so without the intention of messing with the original composition and characteristics of the wood.
Beautiful, classic, warm Brazilian Cherry floors by T&G Flooring for Banana Republic
The color will vary slightly from board to board, adding to the warm, rustic charm of the Cherry wood. But, because of this variation, slimmer boards, when placed side by side, can make a room look too busy. Many homeowners will choose wider planks when working with Cherry in order to minimize the color variation throughout the room.
And remember, good things come to those who wait, so if you were thinking of having darker floors, just be patient. Cherry wood will darken with age, becoming a deeper reddish brown.
Black Maple hardwood flooring by T&G Flooring in Colorado
Colorado’s largest hardwood flooring retailer and contractor
For more information and inspiration for your new hardwood floors, schedule a free design consultation or stop by one of our showrooms.
Next up: The Oaks