luxury vinyl – The Interiors Addict

How to: choose the perfect flooring for every room

Although my recent re-flooring project at home was aimed at creating consistency and flow throughout rooms, that’s not the case for everyone, as some homes require different flooring solutions for different areas.

So, here are a few things to consider when picking flooring for each room of your home.

Bathroom

Renovating your bathroom is a big, messy and expensive job and it’s almost guaranteed you will need (and of course want) to replace your floor. In the past, the choice was obvious: tiles. But these days, there are other options which suit this high-traffic and wet area while giving a very different look and feel. If I’ve seen one bathroom trend continue to rise, it’s the idea of this room as a sanctuary where we can enjoy a spa-like recharge at the end of the day. So we’ve become more interested in the look and feel of the bathroom as well as the many practicalities (you can’t get around the fact that not all materials mix well with water, especially when you want them to last a decade!).

So, what does a bathroom floor need to be? Waterproof, easy maintenance (hygiene is important!), good-looking, nice-feeling under bare feet and non-slip within reason. While tiles look beautiful, they are cold underfoot, so I love that there are other options out there now to avoid this on winter mornings.

Quick-Step’s best bathroom floor options: luxury click vinyl for a warm feel underfoot, and Impressive Ultra laminate (which I have in my home) with its water-repellent HydroSeal technology. When I finally renovate our bathrooms I’ll definitely have the latter at the top of my list.

Living room

Let’s face it, the living room is probably the room most visitors see in your house, so you want to make a good impression. We all tend to put a lot of effort into the look of this room and floors are a huge part of that. You also want it to feel warm and cosy (it’s amazing how much time we spend sitting on the floor despite being surrounded by comfy sofas and chairs!). It’s another high traffic area so durability is important too.

Because of the above, you may want to spend a little bit more money in here too. Timber floors are beautiful, but make sure to have one with a high quality lacquered finish (unlike many of the cheap Chinese products on the market today). The ideal is the look of an oiled floor (the softest, most natural look and feel) but with the protection of the most advanced lacquer that doesn’t compromise that.

If you have space in this often larger room, extra large boards are a great option too, like the Quick-Step Majestic Laminate.

Top tip: Did you know flooring is graded in classes? So a class 33 like Impressive Ultra is so strong it can even be used for commercial applications. A class 32 is more than enough for residential use, but do not go lower!

Quick-Step’s best living room floor options: everything from real timber to laminate and vinyl, depending on the look you’re going for. They all come with the peace of mind of at least 20-year warranties.

Nursery

As a mum, I know little kids make mess. We’re talking sticky fingers, spills, “energetic” nappy changes and spilt milk! As soon as Sebastian started to crawl I became obsessed with hygiene and what he might put in his mouth! And there’s also the concerns about dust, pet hair and other allergens which can get stuck in carpets. A hardwearing, easy-to-clean (with non-toxic products) floor with a closed surface is a winner. Little ones spend a lot of time on the floor so it’s nice if it can feel warm, even though it’s not soft carpet. And I’ll say it again: easy to clean!

Quick-Step’s best nursery floor options: Luxury click vinyl, Eligna or Impressive Ultra laminates.

Kitchen

Kitchen floors get some serious wear and tear; back and forth from that sink to fridge to oven! A tired floor can really date and let down your kitchen, so replacing it can give this room a much-needed lift as well as taking advantage of today’s more advanced floor technology. Real timber will damage if things are dropped on it, whereas alternatives like laminate will not. They’ll also resist stains, from soy sauce and ketchup to kids’ drawing on the floor, much better.

Things get spilled and dropped and loads of feet do a lot of walking across these square metres! And if hygiene was important in the nursery, it’s really important here! And because most kitchens these days have a dishwasher, the last thing you want is a leak which sends your floor buckling out of shape and needing to be replaced. Non-water-resistant solutions like timber and cheap laminate might swell and stain. So, waterproof it is!

Impressive Ultra in classic oak beige in my own kitchen

The best thing about having a timber-look floor suitable for your kitchen is that you can have the same floor in your dining or living, creating a seamless flow in today’s increasingly open-plan homes.

Quick-Step’s best kitchen floor options: Majestic, Colonial Plus and Impressive Ultra laminate floors.

Find out more about all the Quick-Step flooring options and your local stockist.

Read why I chose Quick-Step’s Impressive Ultra for my own home.

Get sent the ultimate flooring guide for free!

Sponsored by Choices Flooring

Whether you’re renovating, building or just looking for pure inspiration for a new decorating project, the new Inspiring Choices Magazine 2017 has more than 100 pages of the latest in carpet, timber, luxury vinyl, laminate, bamboo, tiles and rugs. Choices Flooring produce this free magazine, which also features interior design and decorating articles, to help you navigate the many choices out there and the practical and style considerations.

(Genero Design Platinum – Luxury Vinyl Plank, Aged Walnut) Just like the activities they host, these spaces have a lot to juggle; technology, writing, materials, style and practicality. Yet, they do so seamlessly.

You can choose to read it online or have the hard copy sent to your home free of charge!

From greeting to completing a room, whether your style’s modern, coastal, or something in-between, you’ll find it in Inspiring Choices 2017. A really great feature this year is that a variety of rooms will be shown with two different flooring options, allowing you compare like with like and really see the effect of different choices. Helpfully, the magazine is broken down into 10 sections: greet, eat, create, sleep, meet, soak, study, escape, grow and complete. They reflect different rooms and guide on the best flooring for each room.

(Temuka Coronet – Wool Twist, colour Nelson) As a sanctuary from the rest of the home, the true beauty of these spaces come down to feeling.

Let’s face it, the right flooring can really make or break a home, which is why it is so often the first thing we want to change when buying a home, especially an older one. Using the same flooring choice, for example, throughout an an entire apartment can give the feeling of more space. Replacing daggy old carpets with fresh ones in the latest colours, can make the world of difference.

There are so many considerations though, depending on your lifestyle and home, that it can become overwhelming! I, for example, would never ever in a million years have carpet in my dining room when I have a toddler who constantly drops food from his high chair (sometimes deliberately, sometimes not!). While I love the look and practicality of laminate flooring, I do like tiles in the kitchen as a more hardwearing, practical choice. And when it comes to bedrooms, which get less traffic and hopefully no shoes, there’s nothing better than a soft carpet to sink your tootsies into when you get out of bed in the morning!

(Plantino Engineered Oak – Timber 1 Strip (190mm), Species: Veneto) From feeding little ones to hosting dinner parties, these spaces set the scene upon which many memories with loved ones are created.

Bamboo flooring is definitely an option I don’t know as much about and I’d find it really helpful to see it in the context of some styled rooms. It’s all very well seeing planks in store, but you can’t beat seeing a whole room of something. Choices Flooring’s in-store digital technology can also help you get a better idea of how the options will work in your home.

(Eclipse White Matt, Yura Lead & Eclipse Zenith Sardinia Grigio, Tiles) In order to escape an increasingly busy world, these tranquil retreats perfectly balance luxury with the practicality required for everyday living.

If you’re renovating to sell, you may have totally different considerations, based more on price (and your final profit) and your target market.

(Plantino Laminate Deluxe – Laminate 1 Strip, Manhattan Loft) Often considered the heart of the home, these spaces perfectly balance style and practicality.

So what do you have to lose? Order your free copy of the magazine today and browse the options at your leisure for your next decorating project.

–Choices Flooring is Australia’s leading flooring retailer boasting over 140 stores across the country. They understand that purchasing flooring is a big decision based on lifestyle, budget, and individual style and their in-store and online experience is second to none. Their flooring range is ‘on trend’ with the latest designs and colours in carpet, timber, laminate, bamboo, luxury vinyl, tiles and rugs. They even offer digital technology in-store to help customers find the floor they’ve been searching for.