HGTV's Erin Napier Has A Clever Alternative For Hardwood And Tile Kitchen Floors

Many vintage kitchen decor trends are experiencing a modern revival — and other retro designs should definitely make a comeback. One midcentury modern trend finding its way back into design schemes is brick flooring, which is a favorite of Erin Napier of the HGTV show "Home Town," lending coziness and timelessness that are characteristically Southern.

Napier and her co-star husband have incorporated brick flooring into various renovation projects, and it's an old-school style that can really add warmth and character to a culinary space. Brick is also incredibly durable, as evidenced by its extensive use on the exteriors of buildings, and this makes it ideal for the high-traffic abuse flooring is subjected to. Similar to copper, which gains a beautiful patina as it ages, brick also tends to improve with time, developing character and its own type of patina in the form of weathering, discoloration, and other charming details that result from natural aging.

These inherent "perfect imperfections" that occur over time make reclaimed brick an especially attractive option in homes, as used bricks already have stories to tell and a lifetime's worth of character to impart to an interior space. In one project Napier and her husband undertook — renovating a Mississippi couple's family home — the duo used brick reclaimed from an old schoolhouse, which they laid out in a herringbone pattern to form the kitchen floor. In addition to adding attractive style, using reclaimed brick in this way becomes a conversation piece. It also lends individuality to a room, as the unique flaws found in aged brick mean the floor can't be duplicated in another house. The look of old brick paired with modern materials creates a particularly appealing aesthetic.

Brick also offers a versatility that other, more mainstream types of flooring don't. It can be dual-purposed to visually unite different areas of a home for a more seamless design, and it can likewise help connect interior and exterior spaces. Carrying the same design materials throughout a house creates a sense of greater spaciousness and cohesion, making a design feel more complete and the various areas of a home more intentionally linked. Brick supports this approach particularly well, as it can be used across a wide range of applications.

The brick used for flooring can extend to a kitchen or living room fireplace, for instance, creating continuity and added design flow between rooms. That same brick can also be incorporated into a kitchen backsplash, a kitchen island, or feature walls to achieve a unified look and added visual interest. Additionally, opting for brick veneer in certain applications like backsplashes, rather than full bricks, is a budget-friendly idea that still delivers stunning results.

The principle carries over to a home's exterior as well. Using the same brick for interior flooring and exterior paving, for example, creates flow and connectivity between the inside and outside of a property, allowing interior spaces to blend seamlessly into exterior areas and vice versa. Brick can quite literally run from a kitchen floor to the surface of a veranda, patio, or porch, resulting in an impressive, unbroken design. With this approach, outdoor and indoor kitchens can be visually joined, and an indoor dining room can be connected design-wise to a patio eating area. Brick can also be used on the steps leading into a gazebo, on the masonry for an outdoor kitchen chimney, and beyond.