Floors have come a long way since being dirt, straw and mud-packed surfaces. In ancient times your floor would have literally been the patch of ground on which your home was built, but thankfully times have changed. Over the years we’ve developed a whole range of floor coverings, and in many cases some of the most ancient types of floors are still used to this very day. A brief history of flooring Dirt floors may have been the first usable floor covering (and continued to be so for poorer classes until the Middle Ages), but as far back as 5,000 years ago we had stone and brick. The Egyptians developed stone construction and started to create beautiful floors that were works of art as well as practical necessities, and the Greeks followed by creating pebble mosaics. The Romans followed suit with ceramic tiles but when Rome fell so did the craft of tile-making, and it wasn’t until later centuries that it was revived. Wood floors came into being during the Middle Ages whilst carpets (or rugs at the very least) have been around for some 4,000 years, truly showing the longevity of our favourite floor coverings. Now for something slightly more recent.  In 1863 linoleum was first developed and it was quickly followed by rubber, cork and asphalt tiles, and in 1926 vinyl flooring was invented quite by accident. Resilient flooring of this kind soon became the style of choice and linoleum was used throughout much of the 20th century for its practicality and convenience, and in the 50s and 60s black and white checked tiles became the only option for kitchens and dining rooms. Hardwood floors combined with bright patterned rugs were also commonly seen throughout the 60s and 70s, and carpets became just as popular during the late 20th century. The present day The current trend has a distinctly traditional feel and is focused squarely on wood. Whether it’s restored wooden floorboards, laminate, parquet or hardwood oak flooring you’ll be spoilt for choice, and there’s a reason this style of floor is so popular. Not only does it bring a traditional vibe with a modern twist but natural wood floors suit any home imaginable, whether you’re modern and minimalist or crave the country cottage look, and as an added bonus it’s incredibly practical too. Get the floors you need It needn’t even be that difficult to achieve the desired result. For many people all they’ll need to do is rip up the carpet and get to work on some much-needed restoration—you could be standing on top of a beautiful floor without even realising it, and whether you decide to keep the boards natural, varnished or painted you’ll be left with a truly stunning home. Of course, you might not be so lucky to have such well-preserved floorboards lurking beneath your feet, in which case you’ll need to try something else. That’s where we come in. Here at Nagle Flooring we’ve got a fantastic range of flooring to take your fancy and if you switch to wood you can be confident in keeping up with the times, so take a look around to see the appeal of laminate, parquet or solid wood floors and you’ll soon see why wood is the only way to go.