What is Chevron Parquet Flooring?

Just like herringbone parquet, Chevron is among the most popular and prized Parquet Flooring patterns. In the past years Chevron parquet pattern start gaining popularity again and become a trend in the parquet flooring industry. Because of it’s elegant look and number of options regarding sizes, grades and finishes, Chevron Parquet flooring is desired Parquet Pattern flooring for many households.

Chevron Parquet Origin & History

Flame stitch from the late-16th century, a variation on the Point de Hongrie embroidery stitch

Flame Stitch - chevron pattern

The chevron pattern is also known as point de Hongrie (or Hungarian herringbone), after a kind of embroidery stitch (known as Flame Stitch) that came into style during the 16th century. The Flame stitch a design, rather than a type of fabric. One theory that historians have about the origins of the flame stitch is that it emerged from the marriage of two embroidery stitches popular in the 13th and 14th centuries: the Gobelin (or brick stitch) and the Hungarian (or zigzag stitch). The resulting combination was a favourite of Princess Elizabeth of Hungary, who traveled to Perugia, Italy, so often that some believe this is how the flame stitch became so popular in Italy. Same apply for the name of the pattern, even though it was indeed more popular in Italy it has been named Hungarian after the Princess Elizabeth of Hungary.

The Queen's Guard Room at Versailles

One of the early references of The Chevron Parquet flooring is by the Swedish architect Nicodermus Tessin, in his description of the palace of Versailles in the 1690s. He wrote that there was only one room at Versailles where the parquet was laid in squares. The common belief is that he might have been referring to the Queen's Guard's Room, the only room with chevron Parquet floors instead of the now-famous parquet de Versailles.

Chevron Parquet in Queen's Guard's Room Versailles

Parquetry arrived in England in the 17th Century with Queen Henrietta Marie, who married Charles I. She ordered a major reconstruction and redecoration of her official residence, Somerset House, overseen by Inigo Jones, bringing a touch of the French court to England.

Herringbone and chevron parquet flooring continued to be a popular choice throughout the 18th and 19th century, most notably in Paris during the Haussmann era when much of the city was rebuilt in a large scale urban planning effort. Many of the new apartments featured herringbone and chevron parquet floors.

A return to a more natural look in recent years has seen herringbone and chevron parquet patterns once again become the wood flooring of choice for many traditional and contemporary households.

Shape of Chevron Wood Blocks

The key identifier of a chevron parquet is if it uses a zigzag pattern that comes to a sharp point. Look for a ‘V’ in the planks which will tell you if the floor uses a chevron design or not. The planks on chevron floors are cut at angles to fit together perfectly, forming that ‘V’ shape. The best way to clearly distinguish a chevron parquet floor is to imagine road chevrons you see on some motorways. These V’s will give you a guide on what to look for when it comes to separating from a herringbone. Chevron floors are great for helping to make a room feel larger. The design creates a great dimension to your floor helped along by the flow of the directional pattern. This can make small or narrow rooms feel longer and more spacious by creating the illusion of more floor space.

Chevron Parquet & Herringbone

The Chevron design utilizes a zig-zag pattern that’s similar to Herringbone. However, rather than being laid in a staggered pattern, they’re more uniform and are laid to form a true point. The regularity of Chevron Parquet Flooring means it creates a simple and cleaner appearance. Another way to see the difference is by looking at the shape of the blocks. The Herringbone uses rectangle blocks with straight edges and Chevron’s blocks are cut at an angle. This makes each block’s edges fit with the corresponding side of the block next to it. 

Chevron Parquet

Chevron Parquet Flooring Pattern

Herringbone Parquet

Herringbone Parquet Flooring Pattern

Variety of Chevron Parquet

There is huge variety of Chevron Parquet Flooring, same as Herringbone, there are wide number of choices in terms of:

  • Number of different size of the of the chevron Parquet blocks. Another difference, which could distinguish Herringbone & Chevron parquet is size. The herringbone in general is made in smaller pieces (70x230mm, 70x250mm 70x280mm), as for the chevron, it is usually made in bigger wood blocks (90x540mm, 90x600mm, 115x600mm, 140x700mm). However, both Herringbone & Chevron parquet patterns are also available in bespoke, custom made sizes.
  • Being cut in angle the Chevron wood blocks, can be made in different degree angle, giving you completely different perception of the space, where the Chevron parquet flooring is laid. The most commonly used standard angles, nowadays are 45 & 60 Degrees (some however refer to the last as 30 degree Chevron)

    Chevron 45 Degrees

    Chevron Parquet Flooring 45 Degrees

    Chevron 60 Degrees

    Chevron Parquet Flooring 60 Degrees

  • Number of different wood species that Chevron Parquet can be made of. The most popular is Oak, however it also cam be made in Walnut Chevron, Wenge Chevron, as well as Iroko, Doussie, Teak, and many more.
  • Oak Chevron Parquet can be supplied as either unfinished, to be finished on site, or per-finished wood blocks. In both cases there are various colour stain options available to choose from.

Luxury Wood Flooring is Proud Manufacturer and supplier of any types, sizes or finish of Chevron Parquet flooring. We provide only Highest Quality Chevron Parquet flooring, required for your domestic or commercial project. Apart of the high Quality Parquet flooring, our Team of Experienced Parquet Floor Fitters can undertake, even the most complicated parquet flooring work, paying attention of every minor detail. In order to have flat, smooth & uniform appearance throughout, we would always recommend to have unfinished Chevron flooring, which could be lightly sanded and polished after installation, as well as finished to the desired bespoke colour.

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Credits:
  1. Flame Stitch: https://www.clothandkind.com/journal-archive/flame-stitch
  2. The Queen's Guard Room at Versailles: http://en.chateauversailles.fr/news/life-estate/restoration-queen-guard-room#queens-guard-room