majestic – 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.

Why I chose Quick-Step Impressive Ultra for our new floors

Sponsored by Quick-Step

There has been a lot of interest in our new floors and as choosing which option to go with can sometimes be a bit overwhelming, I thought I’d share what we learned from the experience and how we came up with our final choice. I hope it helps others facing the same dilemma!

I always knew I wanted an engineered floor rather than solid timber for practical reasons: easy to clean and water and scratch resistant. Although I love real timber and it looks beautiful, it doesn’t mix well with water and I knew I wanted this flooring in our kitchen (and potentially our future renovated bathrooms too). I also know, with a small and boisterous child riding trikes and goodness knows what else around the house, I couldn’t be precious about our new floors so they needed to be able to cop a lot of wear (not to mention any potential dishwasher leaks, dropped drinks and toilet, well, accidents!).

The next big decision was whether to go for premium vinyl plank (which seemed to be increasingly on my radar) or quality laminate. What’s the difference you may ask? I’ll try and explain it in layman’s terms!

From a look perspective, there is not a huge difference and if you’re comparing quality examples of each, you may not find one. You’ll also find lots of design and colour options which convincingly resemble real timber. Both are easy to clean (yay!). On price, there’s not a big difference between good quality versions of both.

Laminate is typically more scratch-resistant and made from HFD or high-density fiberboard (made up of recycled hardwood, which for obvious reasons, doesn’t tend to be waterproof). Vinyl is a flexible, waterproof material. However, the new generation of quality laminate floors (like Quick-Step’s Impressive Ultra which we chose, and their latest, Majestic) come with a waterproof surface and are therefore suitable for use even in bathrooms.

Laminate is harder and noisier to walk on, but with the right underlay, you get a quieter and more cushioned feel. And you may prefer a harder feel underfoot, more like the real thing.

Impressive Ultra floors are extra durable and have a superior authentic colour, design and structure – including a super realistic bevel that mimics a genuine timber floor finish.

For me, a lot of the choice came down to aesthetics, as well as quality and brand confidence. I am across all the major flooring brands and suppliers as part of my job and had always heard great things about Quick-Step and been impressed with their innovation. I also loved the samples I saw in showrooms and was hugely reassured by the 25-year guarantee. There is no way I’m going to live in this house that long, but it’s great to know the floors are covered for that period, as well as 10 years for water resistance.

I borrowed multiple samples from the local showroom and I’d advise you to do the same as they’ll look really different under normal residential lighting and in natural light, as well as in different parts of your home. At the end of the day, the look of Impressive Ultra in Classic Oak Beige was just perfect for us. I had no hesitation in picking it, even though it is a really big decision and one you don’t want to get wrong and regret later!

On that note, all flooring is not created equal, and having had other brands’ samples in my home for comparison, I would just say that this in one area in your home where you should spend as much as you can afford. Having floors laid is a major hassle. You have to move everything and there’s a certain amount of upheaval. It’s also an investment, and you really don’t want to have to make it twice if you buy something which doesn’t wear well. And nothing gets wear and tear like floors!

We absolutely wanted something light to brighten up our home, which doesn’t have great natural light everywhere. We did consider Quick-Step’s Majestic product too, which has the same waterproof qualities and some amazing designs, but we felt the extra-long planks were just too long for some of the smaller rooms in our place.

Although you can DIY the click system, we fully admit we are not handy, and because our subfloor needed a lot of levelling, we used the professionals recommended by Floating Floors Direct in Hornsby. Owner Bill Grogan was also great for expert advice, with many years’ experience, and he helped us decide Majestic wouldn’t work for us.

We are over the moon with our floors! I mean, just look at these picture! The floors and the kitchen have changed our home so much and I’m still pinching myself it’s the same “Nanna house” to be honest! Months of trike-riding later and it’s as good as new.

If you have any other questions about choosing your floor, please write them in the comments and I’ll try and help!

For more information about Quick-Step and to find your nearest stockist.

Photography by Jacqui Turk