Beautiful wood covers all the public spaces |
As important as flooring is, its role is to enhance the overall decorating scheme of the room without overpowering it. Floors can be a highlight. Flooring designs and materials exist in numerous varieties. They can provide most of the pattern and color for a room’s decorating scheme while the room’s remaining fabrics and colors that are incorporated are more subtle. Or, the flooring can take the subtle role and serve as background for furnishings, art, other design elements.
Be consistent with your flooring choices. Public spaces: foyers, living rooms, dining rooms, and dens look best with the same flooring material. Consistency opens a home, and enhances flow from room to room. This doesn’t mean that the flooring has to be identical. Variations of the same flooring material actually add interest and define different room functions.
Questions to consider in floor selection:
What is the room’s function?
Who uses the room?
Will the floor have light, average, or heavy traffic?
Is the room accessed directly from outside?
What rooms connect with this room?
How much and what kind of light does the room get? (natural outdoor light or artificial light from lighting fixtures)
Is there a concern about fading?
Is sound control a factor?
Are there budget restraints?
Types of flooring:
Wall to wall carpeting can be solid or patterned |
Wood: There are numerous options in wood flooring. In addition to plank widths, textures, types of wood, floors can be stained, bleached, painted, and stenciled. Finishes can be satin, low, medium, or high gloss. Borders around the perimeter of a room can be used to create divisions between rooms. Inlay designs in small areas like foyers, powder rooms, and landings add elegance. Wood can be laid end-to-end plank style, in parquet, chevron or herringbone patterns. Planks come in various lengths. My personal preference is flooring laid with 6ft planks. Shorter planks look overly engineered. I also prefer site sanding and staining rather than factory staining or ‘engineered’ wood. Although site finishing is a more expensive process, it looks great, and it’s worth it. If you’re working with an existing floor, speak with a professional to see if it can be salvaged and withstand sanding and your desired refinishing. Wood works in virtually any room that does not have water or moisture issues (basements for example). Because there is so much open concept construction, wood for kitchen floors is gaining in popularity if it is being used in other public spaces.
Bamboo and cork flooring have become a wonderful alternative to wood. Both are eco-friendly (self renewing). They are softer underfoot and easy to maintain.
Tile: There is ceramic tile, porcelain, terrazzo, mosaics. Tiled floors withstand water which is why we see them in bathrooms, mudrooms, laundry rooms, and kitchens. A good rule of thumb is that the smaller the space, the smaller the tile, and the more subdued the design. Tile shapes, sizes, colors, designs, and patterns are almost unlimited.
Be creative with designs |
Area rugs are easily cleaned |
Some area rugs can be extremely costly, and therefore, are selected to be the anchor of a room’s design. As a highlight of a room, they contribute a great deal to the effect of a total design plan. The remaining elements of the room, furniture, window décor, accents, are chosen to coordinate the colors and style of the rug. The floor beneath the area rug also must be considered a design element, consistent with the rest of the room.
This silk rug is from Shanghai |
Robin Lechner Designs can collaberate with you on any design need.
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