Choosing Oak Flooring in Camberwell: Your Showroom Visit

A showroom visit is most useful when you bring details of the house with you. That means a floor plan or rough room sizes, a few daylight photos of the rooms, and a sample of the benchtop, joinery or paint the floor will sit next to. At our Camberwell showroom you can see the oak range on full-size wall displays, narrow it to two or three boards, and take those samples home to test in your own light. The free measure and itemised quote follow once you have a shortlist.

Why see oak in person at all

Oak is a natural material, and the colour you see on a screen is only approximate. It depends on the photo, the lighting and your phone. It also varies from board to board: a floor is made of dozens of boards, some a shade lighter, some with more knots or grain. A single sample the size of your hand doesn’t show that.

That is why the showroom uses large-format wall displays. Each board is shown as a floor-sized panel, so you see how the colour and grain move across an area rather than on one plank. The range is a considered selection rather than every board on the market, which makes it easier to choose in one visit. There is more about the space on our showroom page.

What to bring

None of this is essential, but each item helps you move from browsing to a clear decision.

1. A floor plan or rough sizes. A real estate floor plan is fine. So is a hand sketch with the length and width of each room. Mark the rooms you definitely want done and the ones you are unsure about.
2. Daylight photos of the rooms. Take them in the middle of the day with the blinds open, and include the windows so we can see which way the light comes in. Add one of the kitchen and one of the stairs if there are any.
3. Something the floor has to sit next to. A cabinet door, a benchtop offcut, a paint chip or a tile. Holding it against the wall display narrows the shortlist quickly.
4. A photo under the carpet. Lift a corner inside a wardrobe. Concrete, particleboard sheets and old timber boards each lead to a different conversation.
5. Your timing. For example, a settlement date, a builder’s schedule, a baby due, tenants moving out. Timing affects what we suggest.
6. Apartment rules, if they apply. Owners corporation flooring rules decide the underlay and sometimes the board.

What you will see on the walls

Most people who come in about oak end up comparing formats as much as colours. The engineered oak range is all 15 mm engineered European oak with a 4 mm oak wear layer, micro bevel, tongue and groove, and a matte brushed surface, in four formats:

Format	Size	Colours
Standard plank	1900 × 190 × 15 mm	11, from White Smoke to Brown Oak
Wide board	2200 × 220 × 15 mm	7, from White Smoke to Nero Brown
Herringbone	900 × 150 × 15 mm	6
Reactive-finish series	1900 × 190 × 15 mm	4: Westminster, St James, Oxburgh, Jacobean

The reactive-finish boards, such as Westminster, are worth a look if you want an oak floor that already looks lived in. The variation between boards is part of the look, and you need a full-size display to judge it.

Next to the oak you will find Australian hardwood in Blackbutt, Spotted Gum and Victorian Ash, laminate, and hybrid samples. If you came in for oak, it is still worth looking at the others. Seeing laminate beside real oak settles the question quickly for many people, one way or the other.

Questions worth asking

A good flooring consultant will ask you as many questions as you ask them. These are the questions we would suggest asking:

Ask	Why it matters
Will this board go over my subfloor?	Slab, old timber and sheet flooring each need different preparation.
Plank or wide board for my room sizes?	Wide boards suit big open spaces; in small rooms they can look oversized.
How does this colour look in a north-facing room?	Strong sun washes pale boards out and warms up greys.
How will it show dust and scratches?	Mid tones with visible grain are the most forgiving.
Can it be sanded later?	The 4 mm oak wear layer generally allows it; laminate can’t be sanded.
Is there a matching herringbone or stair nosing?	Six colours come in both plank and herringbone.
What will the quote include?	Removal, levelling, stairs and trims should be separate lines.

Expect questions back about pets, kids, underfloor heating, afternoon sun and how long you plan to stay in the house. The answers often rule a board out early, before you become attached to it.

Oak in Camberwell’s older houses

Many of our visitors from nearby streets live in Edwardian houses, Californian bungalows or interwar homes, often with a newer extension at the back. That shapes which boards we would suggest first.

In the front rooms and hallway of a period house, warm mid tones such as Natural Oak, Light Tan and Caramel Sundae usually sit better with original joinery and fireplaces than a stark white or a cool grey. The standard 190 mm plank tends to suit the proportions of those rooms better than the 220 mm wide board, which is better suited to a big open extension.

Herringbone is the other common request for period hallways. Because six of the oak colours come in both herringbone and plank, you can put herringbone in the hall and plank everywhere else in the same colour, and the change reads as a choice rather than a patch. The wall displays are the easiest place to see the two formats next to each other.

Testing samples at home

Showroom lighting is steady and even, while the light in your house changes through the day. A grey oak that looks cool under the showroom lights can look almost beige in a sunny living room, and a warm board can turn orange under yellow lamps at night.

So take two or three samples home, not one, and test them like this:

• Lay them on the floor where the boards will go. Colour looks different at an angle than held up at eye level.
• Look in the morning, in the afternoon and after dark with the lights on.
• Put them next to the kitchen, the sofa and the stair balustrade.
• Check them in the darkest room as well as the brightest.

It is easier to rule a board out at home than in the showroom. Many Camberwell houses have deep verandahs and old glass at the front and a bright extension at the back, so a board can look like two different colours in one house. Our guide on how to choose a timber floor colour goes further into light and tone.

What happens after the visit

Once you have one or two boards in mind, the next step is a free measure and quote at your home. We walk the rooms with you, measure each one separately, look at the existing floor and check the subfloor where we can. If you tell us which boards you are considering, we can bring samples so you see them in your own rooms again.

The quote is itemised: boards with the area and an offcut allowance, underlay or adhesive, removal, subfloor preparation, stairs, trims and labour. Take your time with it. If you are also renovating or extending, our guide to matching a floor in an extension covers the decisions that affect the quote. More local detail is on the Camberwell timber flooring page.

Next step: come in with a plan and a photo

Pick a time when you can spend half an hour, bring your floor plan and a few daylight photos, and you’re welcome to come and see the boards at full size. The showroom is at 2/1386 Toorak Road, Camberwell. If you would like us to set time aside for a whole-house project, please call 1300 690 160 to book ahead.