Parquet Flooring: I just completed a great parquet floor that turned out wonderfully. Here are some tips on making it easy.

1. First I glued 1/8 X 1/16 bass wood strips using glue on the bottom only so there was not any seepage onto the top, onto 11 X 17 1/8" graph paper in groups of four (this will give you mini size 6" squares when complete).
2. Then stain each set of four (I used Golden Oak) and let dry.
3. Using that handy X-Acto miter box, cut each length of 4 boards into 1/2"squares (Turn the strips upside down so that the graph paper is on top and it gives you easy 1/2" marks. Put all your mini parquet into a zip lock bag for use)
4. Cut another piece of graph paper the size of your finished floor. I marked out an area for the parquet, and a plain wood strip border around the perimeter of the room.
5. Glue the 1/2" squares onto the cut graph paper starting from the middle out. Use the graph lines to line up your pieces. Push them up tight close to each other to minimize gaps.
6. I glued a border of walnut stained board around the parquet and then finished with Golden Oak outside of that.
7. Fill any gaps with putty and then run a coat of Golden Oak stain over it all.
8. Apply final finish of your choice.

It came out absolutely lovely and I am very impressed with myself. I prefer the 1/2" squares to the 1" squares. It just looks finer.

Michael