A quick perusal of social media or interior design websites will reveal that a lot of designers are showing off hardwood flooring medallions they’ve designed. Put simply, a medallion is a somewhat circular design in a hardwood floor. Typically, they’re octagons or hexagons, so they still have straight lines instead of actual curves. They’re flush with the rest of hte floor and basically just add an interesting design element. There are two kinds of hardwood floor medallions; some are premade and others are designed.
Premade Hardwood Floor Medallions
A premade medallion is a design made of hardwood that is supposed to be inlaid into a hardwood floor. So, you would pick out a design you liked from a store and measure it. Then, you’d pull up hardwood planks if your floor has already been installed. You would fit the inlay where you want it, then have to lay the hardwood planks again. You would likely need to cut the planks to fit the inlay.
Also, many medallions are sold unfinished so that you can stain and finish them to match your floor. However, you can find prefinished ones as well. A premade medallion has benefits and disadvantages. The designs are often more intricate and flawless than you can make yourself. However, you’ll be limited to what you can find in a store. Alternately, you could design your own medallion.
Design Your Own Medallion
You could design your own medallion or hire a contractor to design one for you. Typically, these are made out of hardwood planks much like the ones that are already on your floor. If you want a subtle, understated medallion, you could use planks that are exactly the same as the ones on your floor. You would then create the general shape of the medallion with planks; again, this is typically something that can be made with straight planks. Stars and octagons are very popular. Then, you would need to cut and shape the other planks so that they fill in the center of the medallion.
Arrange the medallion where it is going to be then nail it down to the subfloor. Cut and shape the surrounding planks so that you have a seamless floor again. This gives you complete control over the design as well as the finish. However, your options are limited to what you’re able to build.
The possibilities really are endless. You can utilize dozens of different designs, stains, finishes, and wood types.