Bordeaux Oak Versailles Panel 20 x 800 x 800 (mm)

Smoking carries the colour into the wood, so the frame and the woven infill of the panel read as one deep, even surface with the pattern showing in the grain direction.

The brushed, matt lacquered surface hides dust and fine scratches on a dark floor and wipes clean; the 4 mm wear layer gives depth for refinishing, and the manufacturer's warranty is 20 years. A panel spans 800 mm in each direction, so the subfloor has to be flat and the room large enough for the grid to read; the panels are bonded, not floated. Tongue and groove, micro-bevelled, listed as compatible with underfloor heating; a box of four panels covers 2.56 square metres.

The Avignon panel is the natural oak version and the Montpellier panel the pale one. For a smoked patterned floor at a smaller scale, the Oxford Fumed Oak herringbone blocks; for the same depth in a plank, the Victorian Antique Smoky Oak.