When Wacky Parquet Flooring Comes a-Creepin’ Up the Walls…

From Jennifer on January 13th, 2010 in Flooring

It’s rare that we see architects that completely redefine the way we look at space and design, but every now and then, a project comes along that leaves us stunned. This Stockholm apartment is one such project.

The designers, Tham & Videgard Hansson Architects, wanted to tie every room together in an obvious way, but not have it seem like each room was merely a spin-off of the last. Their method: multi-colored parquet flooring. Each room in the apartment has a color theme, and the apartment itself takes on an L-shaped parquet theme. Blend the two together, and you get a floor plan that fades in color from one room to the next.

For example, the kitchen has parquet flooring in orange and yellow. A few trace yellow floor boards follow the kitchen floor out the doorway and into the dining room, where the orange parquet planks transition into red on their way into the next adjoining room.

The overall effect is very cool, although a bit dizzying. And the architects didn’t stop at the flooring. Heck no. They let the parquet travel right up the walls. In some of the rooms, the flooring continues up to chair rail height, where it abruptly ends with a strict line of molding.

To enhance the shock-value of the bright colors, the architects also made one bold color the theme of each room, maximizing the impact of that color. Other bold items support that thematic color, like the door, window trims, built-in furniture, shelving units, cabinetry and countertops. And just to add a little jab, every movable thing is bright white, giving the entire home a very clean, bright and dazzling appearance.

As I said, the concept is amazing and genius. But for me, a bit of subtlety goes a long way.