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Herringbone floor in Bespoke European Aged Oak

Herringbone Flooring

Herringbone flooring brings a quiet rhythm to a room. Each oak block meets the next at a right angle, creating a pattern that shifts gently with the light. At Re:claimed, we make herringbone wood floors from antique, reclaimed and newly aged European oak, cut and hand-finished in Cheshire.

From masonry to parquet

The geometry behind herringbone is much older than wooden flooring. Roman builders used opus spicatum, meaning "spiked work", for brick and tile laid in opposing diagonal rows. Centuries later, Filippo Brunelleschi used herringbone brick courses as one part of the engineering behind the dome of Florence Cathedral, built between 1420 and 1436. The brick arrangement helped stabilise the masonry as the dome rose, allowing the vast vault to be built without full timber centring beneath it. One of the earliest recorded parquet floors was laid at the Château de Fontainebleau around 1539, in the Galerie François I. The craftsman was Francesco Scibec da Carpi, an Italian joiner brought to France by Francis I alongside the painters and architects of the first School of Fontainebleau. His parquet sat beneath carved panelling and murals by Rosso Fiorentino, and patterned wooden floors spread from there through the French court. Parquetry reached the English court in the late 1620s through Queen Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV of France and wife of Charles I. She ordered the reconstruction and redecoration of Denmark House, now Somerset House, under Inigo Jones. French parquetry became part of that new interior language, and by the end of the 19th century patterned timber floors had entered mainstream British architecture as well as grand houses.

A short history of the pattern

From Roman paving to the French and English courts.
1

Ancient Rome

Opus spicatum lays brick and tile in opposing diagonal courses for paving and masonry.

2

1420 to 1436

Brunelleschi uses herringbone brickwork in the construction of the dome of Florence Cathedral.

3

Around 1539

Francesco Scibec da Carpi lays parquet in the Galerie François I at Fontainebleau.

4

Late 1620s

Queen Henrietta Maria brings French parquetry to Denmark House, now Somerset House.

Three approaches to herringbone flooring

The geometry stays recognisable. Timber age, surface preparation, block proportion and finish decide how the floor feels once it is laid.
18th century antique European oak herringbone flooring, unfinished

18th Century Antique European Oak Herringbone, Unfinished

Solid European oak, aged circa 200 years, reclaimed largely from historic French and wider European structures.

Antique and heritage herringbone

Antique herringbone begins with timber that already carries its own surface history. Re:claimed's 18th- and 19th-century European oak is reclaimed largely from barns, mills and architectural structures across France and wider Europe. Many boards are circa 200 years old, with some reaching back three centuries. Softened contours, gentle undulation, mature patina and tonal variation all remain visible in the finished floor. Preparing that material for herringbone calls for precision without flattening away the qualities that make the oak worth reclaiming. The blocks still need to meet cleanly and hold the pattern, while the grain, wear and colour continue to vary from piece to piece. For a period interior, that age can continue an existing architectural language. In a contemporary room, the same surface introduces depth and irregularity against cleaner joinery, stone and plaster.
Bespoke European Aged Oak herringbone floor under skylights in a Manchester renovation

Bespoke European Aged Oak

New engineered European oak, tumbled with natural abrasives for a settled patina, then hand-finished in Cheshire. Shown in a Manchester renovation.

Modern herringbone

Modern herringbone starts from new European oak and a more controlled surface. Re:claimed's Bespoke European Aged Oak is a good example. Each board is placed in a custom-built tumbling drum with natural abrasives, allowing the edges to soften and light signs of wear to develop before the final finishing work begins. The resulting blocks carry a more even overall character than antique stock, while still showing grain, tonal shift and a surface that changes with the light. Sharper geometry and greater consistency give the pattern a cleaner reading in contemporary interiors without reducing the timber to a flat, factory-perfect surface.
Hand made French oak herringbone flooring, unfinished

Hand Made French Oak, Unfinished Herringbone

Naturally felled old-growth French oak, shaped by French craftsmen and supplied unfinished as a character-rich starting point for a more tailored specification.

Bespoke herringbone

Bespoke herringbone starts with the material and the room. Block proportions, timber source, character, patina, edges, finish and ageing can all be changed, along with borders and the way the pattern meets stone, joinery, thresholds or adjoining floors. At Re:claimed, much of this develops through sampling. Dimensions, patinas and finishes are made to order, while specialist colour formulas react with the natural tannins in the oak rather than simply coating the surface with a flat stain. The scale of the blocks can alter the rhythm of the pattern; edge treatment changes how crisply it reads; ageing can bring new timber closer to an older architectural setting. A standard collection is the quicker, more straightforward route, with established dimensions, construction and finish. Bespoke requires a fuller brief, more sampling, a longer lead time and greater investment, but allows much finer control over the finished floor.

Drawn before it is cut

Our parquet panels start as geometry on squared paper. On this working drawing, a chevron panel is set out at 1000 × 1000 mm inside a 100 mm border, each stave 600 × 100 mm, with a herringbone panel drawn beside it. The sheet fixes the size and number of every piece before any oak is cut. The arithmetic matters as much as the eye. Herringbone runs at 45 degrees to the walls, so every measurement taken across the pattern grows by the square root of two: a block 100 mm wide meets the border along 141.4 mm. Getting those figures right on paper is what lets the pattern close cleanly at the edge of the room, and lets reclaimed timber be graded and cut for the geometry rather than forced into it.

The work behind the pattern

Herringbone demands more from the maker than a standard plank floor. Every block must be cut to consistent proportions, with clean edges that meet at precise right angles once laid. In reclaimed timber, that consistency has to be drawn from material that arrived with variation already built into it. Each piece is assessed, dried, de-nailed, cut, graded and finished individually, with no batch processing. The difference between a well-made herringbone floor and a production-line version shows at close range. The grain runs the same way on every block. The edges are clean. The colour gradation across the floor feels deliberate rather than random. At Re:claimed, our craftsmen select, cut and prepare each block from raw reclaimed or aged oak, producing the parquet from timber rather than assembling it from pre-cut components.

Precision should bring the blocks together without sanding centuries of character out of the timber.

Herringbone in our projects

From a Mayfair flagship to a Highland hotel, these are some of the herringbone floors we have supplied, in reclaimed, antique and newly aged oak.
Antique Manoir Oak herringbone floor beside a chalkboard sliding door, Ashchurch Grove by Studio Tashima
Reclaimed English oak herringbone floor in Gabriela Hearst's Mayfair store, designed by Foster + Partners

Gabriela Hearst, London flagship

Foster + Partners designed Gabriela Hearst's London flagship in Mayfair. To ground the space, we supplied 100 m² of reclaimed English oak in herringbone, salvaged from an officer's mess in Shrewsbury and restored by hand. Its patina sits quietly beneath the crisp lines of the interior. Images: Foster + Partners.
Herringbone floor beneath the clothing rails of Gabriela Hearst's London flagship

500+ m² of French Carriage herringbone at the Dornoch Station Hotel, Scotland

Explore the projects

One pattern, different design traditions

Herringbone travels easily because the timber, block proportion and surrounding architecture can change its character completely.

Comparing herringbone, chevron and Versailles

Herringbone, chevron and Versailles all belong to the parquet family, but the pieces meet differently and create a different rhythm across the room.

Herringbone Flooring FAQs

What is herringbone flooring?

Herringbone flooring is a parquet layout made from rectangular blocks placed at 90-degree offsets, with the end of one block meeting the side of the next. The repeated arrangement creates the familiar broken zigzag. Herringbone-style flooring can be made in reclaimed, new, solid or engineered timber, with block size and surface treatment changing how strongly the pattern reads in the room.

What is the difference between herringbone and chevron flooring?

Herringbone uses straight-ended rectangular blocks that overlap at 90 degrees. Chevron uses blocks cut at an angle so their ends meet point to point in a continuous V. Herringbone has a broken, layered rhythm; chevron creates a cleaner and more directional line. Re:claimed produces both in antique, aged and bespoke European oak specifications.

Can herringbone wood flooring be used with underfloor heating?

Some engineered herringbone constructions can be specified over underfloor heating, but suitability depends on the product, overall thickness, subfloor, heating system and installation method.

Is reclaimed herringbone suitable for a modern interior?

Yes. Antique oak brings softened edges, patina and tonal movement into cleaner contemporary rooms, where those irregularities can sit against stone, plaster, glass and precise joinery. For projects that want tighter colour control and sharper geometry, new aged oak gives the same herringbone structure with a more even surface character.

Is herringbone hardwood flooring always solid wood?

No. Herringbone hardwood flooring can be solid or engineered. "Hardwood" describes the timber, while "solid" and "engineered" describe the construction. The right format depends on the collection, subfloor, floor build-up, underfloor heating requirements and the scale of the blocks being specified.

How long does herringbone flooring take to install?

Herringbone generally takes longer to set out and install than a plank floor because each block forms part of a repeating geometry. The actual programme depends on room size, substrate preparation, borders, transitions, construction and finishing requirements. Re:claimed and the installer can give a realistic schedule once the floor and site conditions are known.

More parquet patterns

Plan your herringbone floor

Tell us about the room, timber, level of age, construction and finish you are working towards. We can help work out whether a standard collection or a bespoke herringbone specification is the better route for the project.

By Appointment Only

23,24 Berkeley Square, W1J 6HE

[email protected]

By Appointment Only

Elena Padovan, Vice President

[email protected]

By Appointment Only

Unit 6b Battersea Road, Heaton Mersey
Cheshire, SK4 3EA

[email protected]