Wide Plank Flooring: From Historical Homes to Yours

There was a time when wide-plank flooring was limited only to historic or very high-end houses.

I once lived in Savannah, Georgia, a Colonial-era city, and had an apartment literally across from the 1819-built Owens-Thomas House. It was a super location, and when the famed Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade came down the street, we only had to sit on our second-story porch for the best view in the house.

So in my mind, wide-plank flooring is the stuff of 200 year-old houses. Yet in the last couple of decades, wide-plank has been slowly migrating into contemporary residential homes. It's not the cheapest stuff on the block; not the easiest to install. Wide-plank, though, gives your home a more timeless (a cliche, but true), elegant feeling. With its longer planks and fewer seams, it's less "busy" than those two- and three-foot long planks you get from The Home Depot. Wide-plank is something to consider, but it's not for every home.

Image Copyright Kellogg Hardwood; Courtesy Kellogg Hardwood