Chevron vs herringbone flooring

Wooden flooring is an incredibly popular choice in British homes for its timeless aesthetic and durable qualities. Choosing the right design for your wooden flooring can make you the envy of all your guests when they visit. Wooden flooring can be laid in different ways, using straight planks either along the length or the width of the room, or it can also be laid in patterns, such as chevron and herringbone.

While herringbone and chevron patterns look similar, there are some key differences between the two that are important to know if you want to opt for patterned wood in your home. Here, we’ll go through the differences between the two to help avoid any confusion, and we’ll take a look at each flooring individually to give you the full picture of which one will suit your home more.

In this guide:

• Chevron vs herringbone: everything you need to know
• What is the difference between chevron and herringbone flooring?
• Is herringbone or chevron easier to fit?

Chevron vs herringbone: everything you need to know

Although both chevron and herringbone flooring are derivations of parquet flooring, are made from wooden flooring, and create stunning patterns for your floor, they have a lot of key differences that it’s important to note before you accidentally order the wrong pattern when you have flooring fitted!

Chevron flooring

Both chevron and herringbone flooring has been around for centuries – nearly millennia! Chevron patterns first came about in Ancient Greece and can be seen in the patterns on their pottery and relics. The earliest chevron flooring was found to be from the Middle Ages.

Chevron flooring is cut at a diagonal angle and the points are placed together to create a consistent zig-zag pattern across the floor. Chevron wood flooring is a more modern choice with its continuous ‘v’ shapes.  The chevron pattern has been popular in recent years, not just on wooden flooring but as a pattern across homeware, from cushions to rugs.

You can create a Scandinavian aesthetic in your home by using light pine or painted white wooden flooring in a chevron pattern to create that clean and minimalist effect. You can also create an alternating effect with different colours of wood to bring interest to the floor in a very large room.

Herringbone flooring

Herringbone flooring was first seen in Ancient Rome, as it was used by the Romans to build more stable roads and in Ancient Egypt as a jewellery pattern. Herringbone flooring is the more popular aesthetic of the two designs, having been used in homes for centuries.

It isn’t cut at a diagonal angle like chevron flooring - it’s left in its original style as a straight board with 90-degree angles. These planks are laid side by side at an angle so that their ends overlap, creating an alternating zig-zag pattern. There is an overlapping quality to the layout of herringbone patterns.

You can use the herringbone effect in both living rooms with wooden flooring, or in bathrooms with tiles and stone to create unique flooring in an otherwise fairly simple bathroom. The overlapping zig-zag effect is also commonly seen in driveways and brick patios too. You can buy different widths and lengths of planks to change the effect of the pattern and choosing different finishes and hues can help to accentuate the herringbone pattern. Our Finesse collection of luxury vinyl herringbone flooring features smaller and narrower planks to create a vintage parquet look. If you're looking to achieve a Parisian interior design, then herringbone floors can work really well.

What is the difference between chevron and herringbone flooring?

An important difference between the herringbone pattern and the chevron pattern is that herringbone plank ends are cut at a 90-degree angle, while chevron planks have diagonally cut ends. This means that the patterns do not create the same effect – the chevron pattern is more distinctive and cleaner, while the herringbone has a more subtle zig-zag effect.

Another difference between the chevron pattern and the herringbone pattern is that they can have different effects on a room – the chevron pattern is great for making a room look wider thanks to the large strips of flowing planks, while the herringbone pattern is popular in larger, older houses to draw attention to the space it creates.

Is herringbone or chevron easier to fit?

Herringbone and chevron flooring are typically more expensive to fit than other types of flooring because they have to be fitted so precisely, and the boards need to be cut at a particular angle due to the pattern and dimensions of the room that they’re going into. There will also be a difference in the cost between chevron and herringbone pattern flooring depending on which manufacturer you go to, as different fitters and flooring shops will calculate different costs for each.

You can find a variety of herringbone flooring in our range, from laminate to luxury vinyl and engineered wood too. Our professional fitting service makes fitting herringbone flooring a breeze.

In case you're still unsure, book a free home visit to speak to one of our floorologists today to find out whether chevron or herringbone will be the best choice for you. For more information about our flooring options, visit your nearest Tapi store.