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Floors are the last thing people notice stepping into a home, despite of being the most important investment.
Rather than decorative elements, floors are the functional basis of every house, supposed to endure constant traffic and show no tear and wear after only few years.
Those of you looking to replace their floors or install new ones should also look at some of the decorative and impactful flooring ideas that add value to different styles and design plans.
Choosing the appropriate floor must begin with a clear division of rooms, so that you can decide where to use hardwood, carpets, or other materials. In order to do this successfully, there are few things you must keep in mind:
The amount of dirt and mud that will be coming inside
Image source: J Design Group – Interior Designers Miami – Modern
Depending on where you live and what you’re doing, you must think of a flooring solution that will protect your mudroom and other rooms from catching dirt and making that dirt visible.
This is not always an easy task, which is why you should choose floors where damage is not directly visible, and which are easy to clean and maintain.
The best choices are always ceramic and porcelain tiles which require little maintenance, and are more than durable for the price you’ll pay to get them.
All you have to do to preserve their shine is occasional vacuuming or mopping, in particular if they’re darker and hide dirt on their own.
You have to be careful not to drop heavy things on them as they can break. Discoloring, on the other hand, won’t be that much of an issue since darker grout is becoming more and more popular lately.
The playing habits of your children
Image source: Lucy Interior Design
When it comes to your kids’ room, always pick a soft underfoot material where they can play, lay, or sit. The fiber should be cozy, yet easy to clean (nylon or polypropylene, for instance). Unlike wall-to-wall carpets, these are arranged in pieces and thus easier to replace.
Extra comfort for the bedroom
Image source: Dalia Canora Design, LLC
All flooring ideas for bedrooms come down to making it more comfortable, and thus work with materials different than hardwood and other unpleasant surfaces for bare foot to touch in the morning. For those who have little room to change the setting in their bedroom, we recommend beautiful silk-and-woo and alpaca rugs to give the place a comfy and luxurious vibe.
Multi-purpose guest rooms
Image source: Ownby Design
The best solution for multi-purpose guest rooms and offices are low-pile, trendy and colorful rugs and carpets with catchy patterns.
Low-pile arrangements do a better job holding up to traffic than a plush rug wood, even if you have to roll an office chair around all time.
If you have hardwood flooring already installed, solve the problem with a flat-weave rug which also won’t require plastic mats to accommodate pieces with wheels.
Stylish solutions for high traffic areas
Image source: studio PPARK
Here, consider flooring ideas for living rooms that can genuinely respond to high traffic, such as hardwood flooring.
You can always make the setting more interesting with fun inlays and trendy patterns, and benefit from the fact that there are not that many maintenance concerns as with other types of flooring.
Occasional mopping and vacuuming should do the job, or even quick sweeping.
Your vendor will certainly let you know in case there are other specifications to consider, but the patina hardwood develops with time is beautiful, and definitely worth of keeping.
Fun flooring ideas for guest-friendly dining rooms
Image source: Flavin Architects
This is another piece-of-cake task for hardwood to handle, as it is durable, less prone to damage, and significantly easier to refinish upon need than most of its counterparts.
We recommend it in combination with dense and washable rugs placed beneath the table to prevent spills from reaching the floor.
Flooring with rambunctious pets around
Image source: Shirley Meisels
Opt for tiles or bamboo flooring, and lay light area rugs over them to gather the stains and pet hair, and protect the basis.
The worse scenario is to leave an expensive wall-to-wall carpet in place, especially a loop one, but the owners of cut pile carpets will be lucky enough to have it protected from their pets’ nails.
Colors should also be chosen wisely, in order to avoid stains showing off.
Spa-level and comfy bathrooms
Image source: GIA Bathroom & Kitchen Renovations
It is self-explanatory that wall-to-wall carpets are not an applicable option for bathrooms, considering all the moisture, and cosmetic-caused damage that could happen to them.
Even the smallest area rugs in a bathroom are painful to clean, and cause the risk of having water trapped underneath, and causing mold to appear after a while.
With this in mind, we suggests heated tile which you can install yourself (get a $200 radiant mat) or spend a bit more and hire professional help (somewhere around $1,000, depending on the size of your bathroom).
Trendy flooring ideas for kitchens
Image source: Kass & Associates
Most of us opt for dark hardwood flooring to handle the traffic, tear and wear, and potential damage that could happen in the kitchen, or do the absolute opposite choosing a light floor that adds visual spaciousness.
But did you consider grey? This neutral shade is becoming increasingly popular in interior design, and looks the best when applied on floors.
You can get a vinyl or cork flooring piece that genuinely looks like wood, as they are affordable, trendy, and super durable.
Vinyl and cork are excellent flooring ideas for basements and storage rooms, or any area you wish to invest less in, but still prevent all possible damage.
Buying considerations
Image source: Justin Loe Architects
The type of flooring depends on the location and usage of the room. To start with, you have to distinguish between above-grade and below-grade areas, high moisture zones, and other factors that will require you to solve the problem differently in different rooms.
As we mentioned, bathrooms, kitchens, and even basements are the rooms most exposed to humidity damages, and they will require you to choose flooring with special care.
Check the availability of radiant heating. There are flooring fibers and materials that are not compatible, so make sure you don’t choose those.
Consider access to sunlight. Is the floor directly exposed for a large part of the day? UV beams are the core perpetrators of floor damage, so make sure your new floor will be resistant to them.
Image source: Godwin Residential Construction
Measure carefully, and draw on scale all built in elements that can change the flow of your new floor. These include fireplaces, doorways, semi-wall dividers, and so on.
Which is the best way to measure square footage? Start by multiplying width to length, and in case the room is huge or irregularly shaped, measure piece by piece (rectangles or squares).
Once done, collect all footage data together, but don’t rely exclusively on your result – measure again, and purchase slightly more than you apparently need.
This way, there will be enough material to replace bad and mistaken pieces, or just to save extra material for eventual emergency
Ending thoughts
Image source: Allen+Killcoyne Architects
Choose the ideal flooring option for your rooms, and purchase matching transitions, mouldings, and accessories to complete its looks. Go for t-moulding or 4-in-1 moulding, thresholds, quarter rounds, underlayment and care, reducers, and other maintenance accessories.
We are all stepping on it during the day but our floor is as precious as any other decoration element in the house. It’s importance came from the fact that without having any furniture or any other decorative elements the contrast between wall and floor give sense to the room. No matter what type of flooring is, the impact should change the whole room.
Linoleum flooring is a very cheap idea to decorate a room, but a not very good one, it is used less and less because of its unaesthetic aspect. I find really impressive the designs made of mosaic with unseen models that keep your attention for a lot of time. A similar model is the one made with coins where you can only respect the entire work and time spent for his construction.
Cork flooring and wood too could be used as a design idea for a cabin or a rustic space like your wine basement when you don’t have any other option. If you don’t want natural parquet you can buy laminate flooring even if it is cooler.
Stone floors are a beautiful concept for modern houses when the owners are asking for something new but at the same time a warm and familiar atmosphere. Floors are very important in the decoration and painting process like any other elements that are placed in the room and should be treated as such regarding the occupied space.
