Zooey Deschanel Swears By This 17th-Century French Floor Pattern – It Brings Palace-Inspired Elegance to Modern Living Rooms

Zooey's solid wood, parquet floors are the chicest and most durable foundation for her living space, and designers agree

Zooey Deschanel
(Image credit: Kate Green via Getty Images)

Flooring trends come and go, but parquet remains a timeless choice for good reason; when comprised of quality wood, this design, originating in 17th-century France, is chic and effortless in traditional and modern homes alike.

Zooey Deschanel is certainly on board, after posting a video of her cat rolling around her parquet floors on her Instagram page.

Shop our Favorite Parquet Flooring Pairings

According to Liam Cleverdon, flooring trends expert at Flooring King, parquet's appeal lies in its durability as well as its simplicity. This makes it one of the best wooden floor ideas for a living room, holding the same charm in a modern home as it does in a French country palace.

'Parquet is a wood flooring assembled by arranging slats in various repeating patterns,' he explains. 'It’s a popular category as it’s structurally durable, parquet is a hardwood, meaning it has many of the same pros as solid hardwood flooring. Installation is fairly simple but time-consuming, requiring stapling and gluing the parquet to the subfloor.'

Customization is also one of the perks of parquet floors; opt for a lighter wood, like Zooey's, or a darker one for a moodier space.

'Style-wise, parquet is similar to herringbone and chevron flooring, with all three categories offering a unique take on traditional flooring,' Liam says. 'Parquet flooring is an effective way of improving aesthetics in any room and comes in a wide variety of patterns and colors, offering greater freedom over the look of a specific room.'

He continues, 'This type of flooring has an elegant and timeless look, creating a sense of sophistication and offering designers a flooring type that will remain trendy. The versatility it offers in terms of design and pattern means there are various ways these floors can be styled, which is a big draw for designers.'

To complement parquet floors, try adding a wood tray, like this one from Wayfair, to your coffee table. It's the perfect accent, whether you have parquet flooring or not.


Hannah Ziegler
News Editor

Hannah is Homes & Gardens’ News Editor, with a focus on celebrity style and entertainment content. She got her start in media as a digital editorial assistant at ELLE Canada, and has since written about lifestyle and culture for publications such as Nylon and i-D.

Her love of film is rivaled only by one with a great soundtrack, and she hopes to someday decorate a Nancy Meyers-worthy kitchen.