Hardwood Flooring Grades Explained [INFOGRAPHIC]

"Just what are hardwood flooring grades, anyway?"

It's a question we hear a lot at Fantastic Floor, and the answer surprises a lot of people who hear it. Most people assume hardwood grades refer to the quality of the wood in question, but that isn't the case. Instead, hardwood flooring grades refer to the overall color variation in the wood. The higher the grade, the more consistent the color. No one grade is better than another; the "best" grade for you is the one that you like the most.

At Fantastic Floor, our boards come in one of six varieties. Here is a great graphic showing examples of the various kinds of grades and explaining the differences between them. Enjoy!

The Best Rustic Hardwood Flooring Options

Rustic hardwood flooring has been a rising trend in interior design for years, and for good reason. The slight imperfections common in distressed and rustic hardwood flooring add character, beauty, and a specific history to your floors. Rustic floors are also surprisingly complementary, both matching a similarly rustic design scheme or giving a striking counterbalance to a more modern room decor. At Fantastic Floor, we have a huge collection of rustic hardwood flooring products in a wide variety of styles, colors, and species of wood. Here are five of our favorites:

Distressed acacia flooring features a beautiful assortment of colors, from dark brown heartwood to vibrant orange and yellow accents. The wood is streaked with an exotic grain pattern that seems to swim through the boards, giving the floors an almost fluid feel.

A more subtle rustic flooring choice, antique maple hardwood features bright yellow-brown heartwood that is occasionally tinged with reddish-brown accents. It has a very subdued grain pattern and a fine, uniform texture, making it a great complement to pretty much and room design scheme.

Dark, rich, and mysterious, Apache walnut hardwood flooring adds a stylish, dramatic flair to any room. The chocolate brown heartwood is offset by an even darker grain pattern that whirls and flows gracefully across the boards.

Smoked white oak is a rustic spin on the traditional white oak flooring that has been popular in America for centuries. A bit darker than its traditional counterpart, smoked white oak still features light tones and a crisp, tight grain pattern.

Distressed hickory hardwood embraces all the different shades and grain patterns featured in traditional hickory and proudly puts them front and center. The varying shades of brown in hickory make it a visually-striking flooring option that can still be paired with a wide variety of interior design schemes.

Visit the Fantastic Floor website to view our entire Rustic Hardwood Flooring Collection. What is your favorite variety? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Fantastic Floor Presents: Morado

Welcome back to Fantastic Floor Presents, the best hardwood spotlight series on the web! Last month we took a look at African Cedar, one of our lesser-known hardwood varieties. This month we're featuring a South American beauty that has a wide variety of applications: Morado!

Morado hardwood flooring, also known as Brazilian Rosewood, is known first and foremost for its beauty. Its dark violet heartwood is often streaked with striking ribbons of rich chocolate browns and creamy tans. It has an interlocked grain that is sometimes wavy, sometimes straight, and a texture that ranges anywhere from very fine to quite coarse. It is so beautiful, in fact, that it used for many decorative applications, such as veneers, cabinets, and specialty items such as guitars:

bowls:

and tissue boxes, apparently:

But Morado hardwood isn't just about beauty. It's also quite tough. It boasts a Janka hardness rating of 2,400 lbs., making it similar in hardness to Para Rosewood, Brazilian Cherry, and Santos Mahogany. The wood is of  medium density - about 880 KG/m3 - which is denser than almost all of the Fantastic Floor domestic hardwoods and a few other exotics as well.

Want to learn more about this sexy South American hardwood? Visit the Morado Hardwood Flooring page on the Fantastic Floor website or give us a call at 1-888-448-9663. We can't wait to help you pick the perfect floor!