Home Flooring Ideas: How to Choose the Right Floor for Your Space

When it comes to remodelling and renovating your home, there are plenty of inspiring ideas, quick makeover tips, and useful products that will help you create a happy and functional space. And out of the many options, flooring is the most cost-effective and long-lasting. With something as simple as flooring, your entire home can feel fresh, on-trend but timeless, and refined.

Today’s flooring provides a plethora of solutions that will dramatically alter the way your property looks and feels when someone enters it. From vinyl, carpet, and tile to hardwood, stone, and more. This creates questions about the best flooring for your home. Well, each type has its benefits, and determining which flooring is best depends on many factors.

Flooring Options for Your Home

As mentioned, there is an abundance of flooring options available these days. However, for most people’s homes, there will be four main types: vinyl, tiles, wood, and carpet. The type you choose will be influenced by the points that I’ll address below, but it will also be based on your own personal preferences. Kitchens and bathrooms particularly require careful flooring considerations. Once you have made a decision on the type of flooring, you will then need to pick a sub-type and shape.

Let’s now look at the different types of flooring options available.

Vinyl

Vinyl is perhaps one of the most versatile, durable options out there. Available in many colours, designs, and styles, you can choose vinyl for floors in any room as it suits all kinds of homes and spaces, including bathrooms and kitchens. It comes in numerous textures and shades that add an aesthetic edge to any room.

This type of flooring is typically offered in tile, plank, and sheet formats, all rigid, reliable, and easy to install. You will find different vinyl thicknesses with thicker floorings being more durable and comfortable but also more expensive. Vinyl for floors is also easy to maintain, regular sweeping and mopping will remove all the debris, spills, and dirt. Basically vinyl makes a quick fix to a room, especially if you have a tight budget and even less time.

Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) and luxury vinyl tile (LVT) are two forms that have gained popularity recently because of their durability and are designed with style and functionality in mind. Both types are immensely strong to withstand high amounts of traffic while also being truly soft underfoot. Hence, they both make a great choice for kitchens, bathrooms, basements, family rooms, and laundry rooms.

Tile

Tile is one of the most durable, stylish, and contemporary types of floorings. It can enhance a small space, adding warmth and so much character too. Tile flooring is easy to install and requires low maintenance. There are plenty of different patterns, finishes, and colours available which makes tile flooring attractive for every room, including kitchens, bathrooms, and halfways. It can also be installed outdoors on patios, pools, and in direct sunlight.

Porcelain, ceramic, and stone tile are the most popular types of tile flooring. Each offers durability and beauty of colours, providing a glasslike surface. Pick a type that matches your décor and style. Remember stone tile needs to be sealed before using it for stain and water.

Wood

Wood is a super popular flooring type in homes everywhere. Be it contemporary or rustic farmhouse, wooden flooring suits many different interior design styles. This type of floor is very durable and resilient when treated and cared for properly. It can be lacquered or oiled, depending on which look you prefer. Wood, particularly solid wood flooring adds an element of luxury in every room. Hence, it’s best suited for a dining room or living room.

If you like the idea of wooden flooring in your home, then you need to decide whether you want solid wood flooring, hardwood flooring, old-fashioned boards, or, perhaps, imitation wood-effect vinyl. Each has its own benefits, so choose one that matches your needs and fits your budget.

Carpet

Carpet is probably one of the most traditional choices in some homes as it’s quite versatile. It comes in so many different colours and textures more than any other potential choices. As a soft and warm underfoot, carpet flooring can provide added warmth in colder climates and absorbs noise too. However, carpet is much more difficult to maintain and not as durable as other types of flooring. If exposed to excessive moisture, it may need to be removed, which will lead to additional costs.

For more quality carpet tiles, look for fibre density. More fibres mean more durable and hence the product of more quality. Though wool is most common, carpeting can be made from a variety of materials, including nylon, acrylic, polyester, and more.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Flooring

Whether your present home is due for a design update or you are setting up your very first one, choosing flooring for your kitchen, living room, bathroom, and beyond can make a huge impact so it’s not an easy feat. It largely depends on your budget, lifestyle, and personal taste, but you also need to meet every room’s needs in terms of style, resistance to humidity, the weight of furniture, and of foot traffic.

Flooring is something you need to get right the first time as you will have to live with your decision for quite a while. And it’s not just about finding the best-looking product. Looks matter, of course, but so do functionality and utility. So it’s crucial to weigh aesthetics against practicality when picking the best type of flooring for your space. Basically, it’s all about being clever in your choices.

Here are some factors to consider when looking for a flooring solution for your home.

Space

The first thing to consider is the room in which it’s going to be laid and how it will fit with the existing surroundings. Be it your kitchen, bathroom, or dining room, the size and shape can play a crucial role in making the right choice. It’s very much like wall coverings in this regard. While dark accents can bring warmth, light colours help make small rooms feel more spacious. Additionally, different flooring materials are used for floors in specific rooms. For example, tile flooring would make a great choice for the bathroom and the kitchen as these two areas are high or medium moisture environments. Whereas something like stained wood flooring might be suited for your dining or living room.

Practicality

How are you planning to use the space day in, day out, and how much wear and tear is the floor going to be put through? You will want durable, beautiful, and resilient types of floor materials. Something that will be able to withstand the common rigours of the space. Look for flooring that can handle the heat and isn’t sensitive to spills, water, and food stains. Kitchens encounter spills and stains on a regular basis, so make sure the floor you choose can take the mess and is both hardy and easy to clean. Similarly, bathrooms need flooring that can take moisture.

Maintenance

Maintenance is also an important thing to consider before buying flooring for your space. Are you are prepared to treat your floor with plenty of TLC or are you more likely to see it as a chore? The type of flooring you choose will influence to a large extent the amount of work that follows. Different flooring types have different requirements for maintenance. For example, resilient types such as vinyl tiles and vinyl flooring require very little maintenance, while wooden floors can be hard to maintain.