What sheen should we chose for our hardwood floors?

Most people do not think about this until the project is almost completed. There are usually 5 options when choosing a sheen level.

1. Gloss

2. Semi-Gloss

3. Satin

4. Matte

5. Ultra-Matte

​Traditionally, a very shiny, reflective, glossy floor was desired. As of late, the most popular sheen is satin (less glossy). The satin finish has a slight reflection of light, it would not be considered shiny or flat, it is right in the middle. If clients are desiring a shiny floor, we will recommend a semi-gloss, which is 1 step above satin on the sheen scale. The option of high gloss is always there, but in the past 20 years, we have only used it a handful of times. A high gloss floor will reflect a ton of light, would be considered a very shiny floor and because of this is more difficult to clean (it shows everything) and maintain.

Matte and ultra-matte finishes have become very popular over the past 5-10 years. This is a slightly more modern look. This is a muted look, with not much reflection of light and the ultra-matte has almost zero reflection of light. The common question after we apply an ultra-matte finish is “Did you even apply the finish?” Since there is no sheen present, you will not get that traditional polyurethane build look, and the floor, although it is very well protected, looks bare or untreated.

The picture in this blog post would be more like a satin finish, you can see it reflects a decent amount of light, but isn’t too shiny but also, is not muted or flat.