The Mid-Century Modern House, in Oak

New Zealand built some of its best houses between 1950 and 1975. Low roofs, long glass walls, timber ceilings and open plans, designed for the way people actually lived rather than for the street. Most of them are still standing, and most of them are being renovated by people who want to keep what was good about them. This page is for those houses: what the period asked of a floor, which of our oaks carry its tones, and how to take one colour from the floor to the ceiling and into the kitchen.

What makes a house mid-century modern?

A mid-century modern house is defined by its plan and its materials rather than by decoration: a low-pitched or mono-pitch roof, exposed rafters and a sarked timber ceiling, full-height glazing to a garden or a view, open living, and materials used honestly, so timber reads as timber and block reads as block.

In New Zealand the style arrived through the Group Architects in Auckland and a generation of architects who followed them through the 1950s and 60s, working in native timber, brick and concrete block on modest budgets. The result is a house that feels light and unforced, and that rewards restraint when you renovate it.

What colours are mid-century modern?

The mid-century palette is warm timber first, then a small number of saturated accents: teak and walnut browns, mustard, olive, burnt orange and teal, held together by white walls and a lot of daylight.

The floor sets the temperature of the whole scheme. Get it right and the accents can be bold without the room feeling loud. Get it too grey or too pale and the period reference disappears.

Which oak flooring suits a mid-century house?

A warm oak with visible grain, a matt finish and a wide board: wide enough to read as a plane rather than a pattern, matt enough that the timber looks like timber rather than a coating. Three colours in our range do this, from light to dark: Saint-Tropez, Marron and Bordeaux.