How to pick floor coverings for each room in your home

The residences people live in can vary greatly in terms of size and style. While some only need to serve one occupant, other properties are busy households with multiple family members. If you’re planning to refloor your home from top to bottom, we’ve put together a list of helpful hints for selecting an ideal option for each type of room.

While everyone has their own specific taste and personal requirements, the following points may be worth thinking about when you’re choosing floor coverings for these different areas around your home.

Entrance halls

The floors in areas that lead outdoors can often see the most wear compared to other parts of a property. Footfall in these spaces can be heavier, and snow, rainwater, mud, dirt, dead leaves and other debris will often get trampled inside. Homes with cats, dogs and kids will find this an even more common scenario.

For this reason, carpet that can become worn and stained and wood flooring that may warp are never wise choices. Luxury vinyl tile, or LVT for short, can be an excellent alternative. It can mimic real wood and offers a high-end appearance like carpet, but it is far more hardwearing and waterproof, making it a much better solution.

Bathrooms

Due to their functions, bathrooms and their flooring must be entirely waterproof and easy to clean by necessity. While tiles make an excellent floor choice for bathrooms, if you have a large floor space to cover, this can involve considerable expense and a lengthy installation. A cheaper alternative can be vinyl. LVT is able to look just like porcelain or natural stone, and it offers the same impermeable protection from water damage. Additionally, vinyl is incredibly easy to clean, keeping bathrooms and lavatories hygienic.

Living rooms

While some people prefer carpeting in their living spaces for comfort, this option does get worn over time due to how often such areas are used. Others enjoy the regal aesthetics of a solid or engineered wood floor, but this can be costly and typically involves a professional installation. If either of these solutions are selected, adding rugs and padding to the feet of furniture can protect the flooring from wear. Laminate can be a more affordable alternative. Crafted to look like real wood boards, it is durable and easier to care for than carpets, as it never requires a deep clean.

Dining rooms

Rooms where we dine must balance functionality and style when it comes to the flooring. A laminate floor can offer impressive aesthetics that resemble authentic timber or stone tile, and it is also very easy to clean when food and drink are spilled during dinner parties and sit-down meals. If you opt for a luxury real wood floor in your dining area, consider adding a washable mat below your table, as this will protect it from scratching when chairs are moved.

Bedrooms

The floors of the rooms we sleep in experience the least wear, making them ideal for carpeting. The luxury comfort of stepping out of bed and sinking your feet into an inch of plush, deep pile is one sought by many homeowners. For a room that is dedicated to rest and relaxation, wall-to-wall carpeting can be a perfect choice. However, if you enjoy the privilege of an en-suite bathroom, a more waterproof option may be wiser – you can always add thick fluffy rugs for extra comfort.

Kitchens

Like bathrooms, kitchens must contend with water spills, and as a room where cooking and eating takes place, the floor must also be easy to maintain. Those on a budget will find vinyl is cost effective and comes in a wide range of colours to suit any kitchen décor. High-quality LVT is a more expensive incarnation of vinyl, but it will last longer, ensuring a solid return on your investment. Laminate flooring may be suitable for kitchens that don’t see heavy use, but it is not as waterproof as vinyl, or as simple to clean. Laminate flooring requires specific cleaning products, while LVT can be washed with water without harm.

Home offices

The floor you fit in your home office must suit your office equipment. If you use a chair on castors for example, you’ll find this will scratch wooden boards and make indentations on carpeting, causing damage over time. Laminate and LVT can give you a harder wearing surface, so whether you’re pacing about on the floor or wheeling over to your files, you’ll have a floor that can take the strain.

To be productive, a home office should always feel comfortable to its user. LVT and laminate floors can both be installed with an underlay that ensures an extra layer of comfort, and thick rugs can always be added for extra warmth.

Playrooms

Homes with children sometimes benefit from a dedicated playroom. Picking a suitable floor for a playroom isn’t always easy, as coverings must be comfortable but able to cope with spills and stains when playtime gets messy. While vinyl is very easy to keep clean, you may find you need to use cushions or beanbags for comfortable seating options.

A better option worth considering is carpet tiles. Far softer and warmer to sit on then vinyl, carpet tiles are also easy to clean if an accident occurs. This modular design of carpeting allows owners to remove tiles for maintenance whenever required, and if they are damaged beyond repair, they can simply be replaced. Homeowners can either swap the stained tile with one hidden from sight beneath a bookshelf or toybox, or buy a spare in the same style instead.

Are you ready for new flooring?

As mentioned earlier, the perfect flooring will always depend on individual taste, how many people make up your household and whether kids and pets are part of your family. However, if you’re looking for solutions that supply satisfaction, will hold up well under use and will look great for years to come, these suggestions may be well worth considering.

First UK polypropylene carpet recycling facility under construction

The UK’s first facility for recycling polypropylene carpets is under construction in Northamptonshire’s Chelveston Renewable Energy Innovation Park.

Polypropylene is a popular material for making carpets, as it is less expensive than wool or other natural materials. Carpets made from this material are hardwearing, but, at the end of their life, many polypropylene carpets are thrown into landfill sites.

However, Innovate Recycle’s new facility will convert the polypropylene into pellets that can be sold to a number of industries. The pellets can be used to make a wide variety of products, such as watering cans, buckets, storage bins and 3D printing materials. The polypropylene used in these products can then be recycled as part of a circular manufacturing process.

Speaking to the East Midlands Business Link, the Chair of the Board at Innovate Recycle, Bob Woods, said:

“Carpets cannot continue to be sent to landfill, incinerated or repurposed into products that damage the environment which is why we are at the forefront of new technology and developing a new circular economy approach for the carpet industry.”

The carpet recycling plant will use renewable energy generated from wind, solar and hydrogen power sources at Innovation Park. Innovate Recycle is working with the UK carpet industry to make waste carpets more environmentally friendly.

Quality carpets in Wrexham and Chester homes are made to last a long time. As they will eventually wear out, it’s positive news that they can be recycled at the end of their life.

Rise in demand for carpet backing materials

Manufacturers of carpet backing materials have experienced a sharp rise in demand for their products during the last few years.

Carpet backing contributes to the quality and durability of carpets and influences customers’ buying choices. There has been a rise in demand for carpets for commercial and residential buildings, and this has boosted the sales of carpet backing materials.

According to Transparency Market Research, the carpet backing material sector is forecast to expand by 5% each year in the period 2021 to 2027. The increase in carpet sales is worldwide, but new construction activities in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific regions are expected to fuel the highest increase in demand for carpets.

Most manufacturers of carpet backing materials are focusing their development efforts on more environmentally friendly products. As well as using recyclable materials, manufacturers are reducing carbon emissions in the manufacturing processes through the use of renewable energy.

Manufacturers are also improving the sound insulation qualities and the softness of their carpet backing, in order to make rooms quieter and carpets feel more relaxing.

Though there are many flooring choices available, many people prefer carpets for their North Wales, Wrexham and Chester properties, especially wool carpets, which add a feel of luxury to any room.

In response to environmental concerns, carpet manufacturers are using more sustainable materials in their backing and the carpet weave. There are a number of UK recycling schemes that break down old carpets to extract materials for use in new products.

Crystal carpet laid in Royal Palace Amsterdam

Suzan Drummen, a Dutch artist, has created a gleaming carpet inlay with crystals that has been installed in a salon at the Royal Palace Amsterdam.

The carpet features brightly coloured psychedelic swirls and crystals of various colours, which were all installed by hand over nine days. Drummen described her approach to art as exploring the uncertainty and confusion in the world today. Speaking to Colossal, she said:

“I’m interested in things that dazzle us, and in my work, I try to ramp that up. It’s an ongoing quest, with a constant interplay between seriousness, fear, playfulness and hope. Above all I want it to be vibrant and vital.”

Drummen’s brightly coloured crystal carpet is designed to clash with the muted hues and style of the historical furniture and fittings, as well as the brown colours of the walls and ceiling.

The carpet is part of an exhibition called Trailblazers, which shows off modern artworks in the historic setting of the Royal Palace. It is running until October 3rd.

The carpet is not designed to be practical, as walking in slippers or bare feet on the large crystals would not be very comfortable. Each hand-laid crystal is unsecured, and walking on the carpet would disturb the intricate patterns made by the crystals.

The carpet's swirling brightly coloured patterns are not to everyone’s taste. For a more muted style of carpet for North Wales and Chester rooms, there is a large range of colours and styles available from local carpet stockists.

What’s the ideal flooring for sunny rooms?

With the summer months now upon us, UK homes are seeing an increasing amount of sunlight enter their rooms. While not a vast number of properties here in Britain boast a dedicated sunroom, most residences will have one or two living spaces that enjoy the best of the day’s rays. These rooms are lighter and brighter than other areas around the house, but while this can be a blessing, such spaces require more careful consideration when homeowners select flooring.

Depending on its quality, some floor choices can fade under the sun’s concentrated UV light, so it’s important for purchasers to understand how different flooring is impacted by sunlight. In the next sections, we’ll take a closer look at how three types of floor coverings cope when they’re installed in a room that receives a lot of natural light.

Vinyl floors

Vinyl has become a popular option to floor UK homes. Durable and more cost-effective than natural stone tiles, it is also exceptionally simple to install and care for. It’s worth noting, however, that not all vinyl flooring is created equally, and this means that some will be more susceptible to fading under the sun than others.

Householders who are considering fitting vinyl flooring within a room that will be exposed to plenty of sun should speak to product suppliers and manufacturers first. With expert knowledge, they will be able to inform homeowners of how well each individual vinyl option can stand up to strong sunlight. In a number of cases, property owners may find they’re ready to replace their flooring and redecorate by the time any fading has become obvious, but it’s still worth understanding lifespan of any flooring solution prior to buying.

Laminate floors

Laminate can be a smart choice for bright, sunny rooms. The majority of laminate solutions won’t fade beneath the sun’s rays, making them highly suitable for installations in living spaces that get a lot of light. However, it’s still a wise idea to fit laminate flooring so that the individual planks run away from a room’s windows. This way, any sunlight entering will fall along the length of each floor plank, instead of across their width, avoiding any sign of sun damage. For its ability to withstand the sun’s rays, laminate flooring is a favoured choice for both conservatories and everyday rooms that have multiple windows.

Carpeted floors

Finally, for its luxury look and feel, carpeting is a favoured floor option here in the UK. Celebrated for its warmth, comfort and the vast variety of colours and patterns available, it’s not tricky to see why. While carpets can work in brighter rooms, and many are now made with additional UV protection, they can fade over time, leading to mismatched areas that can be noticeable in larger rooms. Carpet tiles can offer an ideal solution where householders are keen for a softer floor option in their sunny living areas. When a carpet tile becomes sun damaged, it can easily be replaced or rotated with others periodically to lessen the effect.

With a variety of options on offer, homeowners should carefully consider the use of the room and the desired look to select a suitable flooring option for a sunny room.