Good parquet is a very manageable kind of flooring. There are numerous patterns to be made by combining these wooden blocks. A good trick is to work both the pattern starting from the center and make it as big a perfect square as you can. Then lay a simple border to accommodate all the tricky outside edges. Parquet is often in oak but you could dye it with stain or varnish for a richer effect

You will need: pencil, string, ridged adhesive spreader, PVA floor adhesive, parquet blocks, timber, length, matt varnish, paintbrush, fine-grade sandpaper

ONE – Make sure your floor surface is clean, dry and level. Find your starting point by stretching string from corner to corner as for tiles and draw guidelines on the floor. Using a ridged spreader, coat a small area of floor with adhesive. TWO – Apply parquet blocks to the adhesive. Use a length of timber laid across the blocks to check that they all lie flush. Repeat until the floor is covered. Seal the floor with two or three coats of varnish, sanding between coats.