A beautiful home needs appealing flooring. Ideally, your flooring choice should be durable, functional and comfortable to walk on. And coincidently, vinyl flooring meets all these criteria.
Thanks to advances in technology manufacturers now can produce vinyl flooring for home that can compete with other materials such as solid wood, stone and ceramic in terms of texture and appearance. Some of its advantages include durability, water resistance, affordability and ease of maintenance.
Because your flooring choice will impact the overall aesthetic and feeling of your home, your selection should be based on how it will complement your walls, furnishing and decor. This guide will help you make the decision on the best colour, pattern and style of vinyl flooring for your home.
Types of Vinyl Flooring
There are three main types of vinyl home flooring available on the market: luxury, hybrid, and traditional. Their waterproofness, durability and ease of clean vary as each has different construction, structure and manufacturing process.
- Luxury Vinyl – a type of vinyl flooring that offers a more realistic appearance as it imitates the look of timber or natural stone. It’s made in the form of planks of varying thicknesses.
- Hybrid vinyl – a long-lasting and sturdy vinyl flooring that has the appearance of luxury planks. It differs from others in the way it is produced which is with a rigid limestone core that offers higher durability and resistance to impact.
- Traditional – a vinyl flooring that has a cushioned backing, so it offers a much softer feeling underfoot. Generally available in sheet form, this flooring is easy to install and is also the most cost-effective option.
When it comes to design, vinyl home flooring is available in tiles and sheets. The tiles are available in 48 to 77 square centimetres and can be made to imitate the look of ceramic tiles. Vinyl tiles tend to be a fraction of the cost of vinyl sheets. There is also the luxury vinyl tiles, which mimic the appearance of real wood or stone and are available planks that are 17 centimetres wide and 1.20 metres long. Vinyl sheets can be 1.80 metres to 3.65 metres wide and are extremely easy to install.
Understanding the Impact of Colour
The colour of the floor plays an important role in determining the overall look and feel of your home. When it comes to how to choose flooring color for your home, you need to consider what kind of atmosphere you want to create in your home. Do you want to achieve a more natural, calming and home feel or you are after a more clean and modern aesthetic?
Colours such as beige, yellow, grey and white tend to offer a more contemporary feel to your space while darker colours such as black can create a sense of luxury. Brown flooring is a popular option as it helps create a sense of comfort and security. Grey is a uniquely neutral floor colour that is highly versatile and can be used in numerous scenarios.
Pairing Floor Colour With the Room
The size of your rooms can also impact your flooring choice. For example, flooring in a lighter colour can make a small room seem noticeably larger and more spacious than it actually is while also helping create a warmer atmosphere. A darker floor can result in the opposite effect, making your space seem smaller by comparison, but darker floors tend to provide a sense of luxury and uniqueness.
Flooring Pattern and Style
The flooring pattern can also have a dramatic effect on the look and atmosphere of your home. Luxurious vinyl flooring in oak style can make a room lool more traditional and classy while a design that imitates laminate flooring can make the room look modern and clean. Larger planks or larger tiles can make a room look expensive while smaller planks can bring sophistication to the room.
Flooring Finish
Vinyl flooring can have a glossy or embossed finish. Your decision will depend on your preferences, just keep in mind that a glossy finish may be more prone to showing scratches over time. Textured floors add a degree of roughness to the flooring material, and because they reflect light differently, they also add some depth to the character of the floor. If you like the appearance and feel of tile flooring you could opt for a smooth finish to achieve a similar look.
The Colour and Style of Your Furniture
Your furniture colour and style should also be taken into consideration when choosing your flooring colour. That is because if you have designer furniture, for example, you may want it to be the centre of attention in your room. In this case, you’ll want to choose a more neutral flooring colour. In the same way, if you have furniture in Asian style, then red flooring will create a mystic orient feel that will blend perfectly with that furniture.
You can whether choose to contrast or match the floor colour to the furniture. You might be surprised at how well darker coloured furniture works with a light colour flooring. This can lead to a more rustic, airy presentation, creating a room with s timeless feel to it. A darker floor is also well complemented by the use of lighter coloured furniture utilising contrast as its main feature.
